Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019 Film Retelling)
by Kyero Di' Nelma
Summary: Expanding on the frame work Legendary left behind, this retelling aims to improve all elements of the story, presentation, and flow of the film "Godzilla: King of the Monsters." I hope you enjoy!
1. Preface

**Godzilla: King of the Monsters**

(2019) Retelling By: **_Kyero Di' Nelma_**

**Preface**

Godzilla is the property of Toho Co., Ltd. He is currently licensed by Toho to Legendary Pictures, partnered with Warner Bros. Studios.

This is a fan-made retelling of the 2019 film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, written by Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields, based on a story by Max Borenstein.

Much like I did for my 2014 retelling (both old and new), I will be attempting to rewrite the film's major events while remaining true to the original vision as much as possible. The plot will remain largely the same, with only a few minor deviations meant to enhance and support the intended stories being told within.

For example:

1) You will see much more hinted at early on and explained later in the story about Ghidorah's cosmic origin.

2) The entire Russel family will be _far more_ developed than they were in the film so that their collected grief is more strongly felt and, more importantly, _seen_ in the way they behave and interact with one another as well as with others in the story.

3) You will see the lore expanded upon and made more logically consistent, such as why Ghidorah's alien call would have affected any of Earth's Titans (given that he's not part of our natural order and thus not actually an Alpha species this planet's inhabitants should recognize, respect, or follow).

I would like to take this time to thank you for visiting this story, and I encourage you to leave comments relevant to the chapters you read. If you find something you don't like, feel free to speak up. I'm not one of those people who belittles differing opinions. I welcome them. If you think I could have done something better, feel free to leave constructive criticism. I thrive on it.

I encourage all my readers to be vocal, and speak your minds openly about this story.

Thank you all again so much for being here. And I hope you enjoy the story!

~ Kyero Di' Nelma


	2. Memories of San Francisco

**Chapter 1** – Memories of San Francisco

The silhouette of what was left of the Golden Gate district of the once proud city of San Francisco was perfectly outlined by the fading sun which blanketed land, air, and water alike in red light. Fire ceaselessly assaulted the landscape in the wake of a titanic battle still taking place further inland. And high in the skies above were the descending flare lights of the city's last hope to avoid a nuclear catastrophe.

Amidst the chaos and ruin, a group of civilians gathered, ignoring or outright refusing the evacuation calls, and searched for their loved ones. Turning over every slab of rubble, every car, every fallen sign, they desperately called the names of those they'd come to find.

A little girl named Madison, held tightly in her mother Emma's arms, cupped her hands over her ears as the adults around her, both familiar and not, continued crying out in vain. The result was similar to when one cupped a seashell to their ear, with the world around her sounding like she was listening to it from beneath the ocean's waves. But the muffled, muddied, echoing cries from the frantically searching adults struck her eardrums despite her monumental efforts to shield herself from the reality they all faced.

One voice in particular belonged to a man she knew well. The man who raised her. The man who sheltered her. The man she had known as indestructible her whole life. The man who never cried, snapped, or showed signs of fear. And the man who loved her with all his heart. Her father, Mark Russell, flashlight in hand, called to her elder brother whose face she could not find.

"_Andrew_!" Mark shouted repeatedly.

Mark's frantic search became almost violently desperate. Every obstacle in his way was kicked, shoved, or thrown aside with as much force as he could muster, almost as if every single one of them was personally responsible for his grief. Madison's mother gently stroked her hair in a calm, quiet attempt to soothe Madison's growing anxiety.

She'd never seen her father this way before. Tears streaming down his face like raging rivers. His body movements full of stuttering confusion and uncertainty. And no matter how many times or how loudly he shouted Andrew's name, he received no reply. And against her will, Madison began to shake.

"Where's Andy, momma?" She asked quietly, hands still cupped to her ears.

Her mother gave no response. She only continued staring at Mark as her own tears flowed silently down her cheeks while she continued to stroke her beloved daughter's hair.

Suddenly, a guttural clicking resounded behind them. All eyes snapped towards the source of the sound. And from the smoky haze surrounding the city's still standing skyscrapers erupted a colossal flying beast with long, slender legs and glowing red eyes. As it flapped its wings, a thunderclap was released which sent a wave of air pressure hurtling across the earth below and knocked all of them to the ground. Soaring overhead and arcing back around towards the city, the creature disappeared.

But following it... Was something much, much bigger.

Madison's eyes slid to the right from where the creature disappeared, and what she beheld both literally and figuratively took her breath away. A colossus the likes of which she'd never seen before burst through a small gap between two skyscrapers, knocking both towering structures to the ground on either side of itself in a horrific display of power and majesty. Debris and rubble fell upon it and bounced off its rugged, reptilian flesh to the ground below. And with every step it took it shook the ground enough that she felt it in her very bones.

Mark observed the creature's feet as it stomped towards them, noting a familiar layout in the streets below as the location of where their dwelling here in San Francisco once stood. In the confusion and amidst the carnage, he'd been searching in the wrong location!

"Nooooooo!"

**SLAM!**

A thundering footstep crushed what little hope Mark had left of finding Andrew as what remained of their home disappeared beneath its massive clawed foot. Mark's hand outstretched and reaching towards it clenched into a fist as he looked up towards its head high in the skies above. It didn't notice them. How could it notice them? All it was concerned about was finding the flying creature again. As the beast turned, its tail swept aside several city blocks flinging hundreds of tons of rubble over their heads and into the waters of the bay.

A few thunderous footsteps later, and the creature disappeared back into the haze of the city. But not before leaving them with single, ear-shattering roar. And the last thing Madison saw was the face of her father shrieking in rage towards the creature as its tail vanished into the gloom.


	3. Aftershocks

**Chapter 2**: Aftershocks

Waking from the nightmare of five years prior, the sensation of her daughter's head pressed into her shoulder still tingling as if she'd only just let go, Emma Russell blinked away her tears as she stared into the green forests beyond her window. Taking a moment to breathe, she glanced back towards a family portrait taken shortly before the incident, her son Andrew seated with her arm draped over his shoulder.

On the television blared news about protests in the streets demanding that the secretive organization, MONARCH, be held accountable for the tragedy of San Francisco. Talk of mass die offs in the oceans being linked to the efforts to locate and track Godzilla, who hadn't been seen since the incident 5 years ago himself. Talk of MONARCH top brass, such as Drs. Serizawa and Graham, being grilled as the government made motions to have MONARCH fall under military jurisdiction. And, finally, talk of the idea that MONARCH knew about yet more Titans yet kept hidden from the world.

Following the closure of one particular broadcast about "the day we discovered that monsters are real," Emma closed a black device with the MONARCH symbol on its cover with a sharp click…

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Madison, now fourteen years old with music blaring in her earbuds, scrolled through her emails until her eyes landed upon one titled: "How's it going?" from her father. With a single click, the email's contents displayed the following:

_Hey Madison,_

_Haven't heard from you guys in a few months. Hope you're having fun._

_Here are a few pics of the wolves I've been studying. Aren't they cute?_

_Love,_

_Dad_

Scrolling through the images, one popped up that was unexpected and brought a small smile to her face. A picture of herself and her father while they'd been out fishing.

Beginning to write back, Madison typed…

_Hey Dad,_

_Sorry I haven't written back. I miss you._

_But there's something I want to talk to you about…_

Glancing towards her mother's bedroom momentarily, she continued…

_I'm getting worried about Mom._

Suddenly, the smoke alarm began blaring, easily cutting through the music in her ears.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit!" She cursed.

She quickly lifted the pan trying desperately to save what was left of the breakfast bacon she'd been preparing for herself and Emma.

"Ooooooohhh…"

"Maddie?" Came Emma's voice.

"Good morning! Good moooorning, mom!"

"Oh my god!" Emma exclaimed as she rushed forward to turn off the stove top and fan the fire alarm.

"I made us breakfast!" Maddie said as Emma turned off the alarm.

"It's uh… Eggs, toast, and what was once… Bacon…" She finished.

Emma popped the toast out of the toaster.

"And which do you recommend?" She asked with a smile.

"The toast and eggs." Maddie replied, equally all smiles.

As Maddie moved to close her laptop, Emma spied it warily.

"Coffee?" Maddie asked, grabbing the pot and beginning to pour her mother a cup.

Emma's eyes shifted once again to the laptop before returning nonchalantly to Madison.

"What were you workin' on?"

"Um, I was looking at recipes." Maddie replied swiftly.

Sipping her coffee, Emma's eyes hardened.

"For toast?" She asked, perhaps a bit more harshly than she should have.

Knowing she was caught, Madison's face softened.

"Dad's been emailing me. But he looks good. Healthy." She said pensively.

Emma's eyes once again shifted to the laptop, but only for an instant, before returning to Madison.

"Have you responded?"

"Not yet," she replied.

Emma remained silent.

"… Sugar?" Madison asked, holding out a packet for Emma.

Her mother eyed it for a moment, and the corner of her mouth shifted slowly into a smile as she took it, tore the end, and poured in her desired amount. Stirring it gingerly with her spoon, she tapped the metallic utensil on the lip of the cup before setting it down on a napkin and taking a sip.

"Good?" Maddie asked.

"Mm." She replied, slowly nodding through a sip.

A long silence ensued, during which time Maddie found it difficult to maintain eye contact with her mother who's gaze, while remaining relatively warm, was unwavering and unblinking.

"So um… Anything else?" Maddie asked.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked quietly.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

Emma's silence and unblinking gaze spoke volumes, resulting in a frustrated sigh from Madison.

"Look, mom. I'm fine. Okay?"

"You sure?"

"Yes!" Maddie snapped.

Emma remained silent and sipped again at her coffee.

"Maddie. Every time he reaches out you seem more and more miserable."

"Why would you think that?"

"Maddie."

"I'm fine, mom. Seriously. It's just-"

"Hard?"

"… Yeah."

"How so?"

Maddie tried to reply, but all she could muster was a tight-lipped shake of her head as her eyes started watering.

"You want to talk about it?" Emma asked on a whisper.

Maddie shook her head.

"Why not?"

Again, a shake of her head.

"Maddie. I'm your mother. You know you can tell me anything, right? Even if it's about him."

Maddie's lips curled inward more as she looked towards her laptop.

"I miss him." She managed at last.

Emma's eyes closed slowly as she took a deep breath through her nose.

"Maddie… Believe it or not, I miss him too."

"Yeah. Sure."

"Maddie."

"If you miss him so much then why not call him every now and then!?" Maddie shrieked.

Emma leaned away in surprise, almost spilling her tea into her lap.

"You always try to act so calm, like everything's going to be all right! But you never talk to him! You never even mention him! All you do is lock yourself away and work on that _thing_ you keep in the case!"

Emma's mouth hung slightly agape as she subtly shook her head fighting for the will to form a response.

"Dad's hurting too! Why won't you let me be there for him?! Why won't you let me be his daughter?!"

Maddie backed away until she hit the cabinets behind her and slumped down to the floor. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she sobbed bitterly into the fabric of her jeans leaving Emma dumbfounded and still struggling to reply. All she could do was sit on her stool with her hand shaking as it held her cup of coffee.

Finally, Emma found her voice.

"I'm not… Ready to contact him yet." She said with a subtle quiver in her voice.

She set her coffee down and walked around the table, kneeling down next to Madison as she wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

"I don't think your father is ready to hear from me either. At least, not yet." She whispered.

"How would you know?" Maddie asked through gasps and sobs.

Emma closed her eyes, pressing her cheek gently into Maddie's scalp.

"Because I know him, Maddie."

"Do you? People change, you know."

Emma had no response for that. All she could do was take in another deep breath as she kissed Madison's forehead.

"Maddie, I know this hasn't been easy for you. It hasn't been for any of us with all that's happened. But we'll get through this, Madison. Together."

Maddie finally looked up, her face smeared with tears as she sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve.

"You promise?"

Emma offered her best smile and gave Maddie's forehead another big kiss before whispering, "I promise," against her ear and pulling her into a tight hug. Maddie, too tired to fight, relented and melted into it wrapping her hands around her mother's forearm.

"Hey. Wanna hear some good news?" She asked.

Maddie nodded, and Emma pointed towards the black case which she'd brought with her and set on the edge of the table.

"I finished it." Emma declared proudly.

"You think it's gonna work?" Maddie asked quietly.

Emma nodded.

"It's going to work."

And less than one second after uttering the final syllable, the ground quaked beneath them. Emma held tightly to Madison as the walls shook, loose items around the house trembled and fell over, and the lights overhead flickered on and off with a surge of power. And, as the earth stilled, the high shriek of _something_ unseen drew both of their attention to the nearby bay windows.

Over the radio came a voice.

"Dr. Russell. We need you in containment!"

Emma slowly brought the radio up as she wrapped an arm around Maddie.

"I'm on my way."

With a confident smile, Emma's eyes set squarely on the majestic sight of a temple in the middle of the Yunnan Rainforest just beyond their dwelling.


	4. Mothra

**Chapter 3**: Mothra

"What the _hell _happened?"Emma demanded.

"We've no idea. She was sleeping like a baby until an hour ago, and then boom! Her radiation levels went through the roof. Almost like something triggered it."

"Thanks Tim. You know I can take it from here. Why don't you get some rest?"

"No way. Sleep or no sleep, I'm not missing this."

As her mother and Tim continued to converse, Madison stopped to admire a carving in the walls. Despite being covered in vines and moss, it was beautifully preserved and depicted an enormous moth with large circular symbols near the edges of its wings. On either side of the moth was a larvae-like creature, presumably its spawn or perhaps simply its first form.

Walking up to it, Madison could almost feel a primal energy emanating from the stone. Glancing to the side at scientists taking photos, she waited until they turned away and reached out to touch her hand to the stone.

"… It's warm," she whispered.

A small tremor snapped her back to reality, and she dashed to catch up to her mother and Tim.

Once on containment observation platform, Madison dropped her bag and walked to the glass wall separating her from the chamber where a giant plant-like ovular sphere sat surrounded by lights and containment barriers. Within the spherical mass pulsed a blue light, accompanied by a soft, undulating sound almost like a massive heartbeat.

"Sedatives?" Emma asked.

"No effect. This thing _wants_ to be born." Tim replied.

"But why?"

"No idea. But best guess? Something's about to happen somewhere else in the world."

"Something involving another Titan?"

"Perhaps. But it's only a theory. It must be responding to _something_ though for it to be-"

Cut off by a sudden flash from within the sphere, Tim, Emma, and Madison looked on in wonder as it bulged near the top before stretching higher and higher into the air snapping the vines and cables holding it down. The pulsing grew brighter and brighter until it nearly blinded them, forcing them to turn away. And all the while a soft growl emanated from within.

And at last, breaking free of the spherical prison emerged a massive insectoid creature whose body pulsed with that same blue light. That same warmth Madison felt from the stone began coursing through her body, and her hand found its way to her heart as she felt it beating faster and faster.

The titanic larvae turned around towards the containment teams on the platforms around it, staring curiously between them as Tim's voice broke through to Madison's ears.

"Meet _Titanus Mosura_. Or as we like to call her…"

"Mothra." Madison finished, a large smile spreading on her face.

"Incredible." Emma echoed softly, voicing the wonder they all felt inside.

As Mothra continued to analyze her surroundings, an artificial voice echoed through the chamber.

_Activating Containment Grid._

Suddenly, beams of light surrounded Mothra rising from the floor to the ceiling, catching her off guard and causing her to rear up with a gasp of confusion. But no sooner had this taken place than the beams of light turned red as a warning alarm began blaring.

"What's happening?" Emma demanded.

Mothra, meanwhile, had had enough. She roared loudly and turned to the side. Her body slamming the edge of the platform the containment team stood upon.

"Something's really wrong here. Our containment systems are failing all across the premises and the whole network is going insane!" Tim exclaimed.

"What do you mean? How is that possible?"

"Someone else has to be doing this!"

Mothra bellowed in the chamber, slamming her tail end down causing a large tremor. Emma grabbed the intercom: "Containment team, stand down. I repeat, stand down! You're _scaring_ her!"

Mothra leaned forward and growled at one of the team members who, in a panic, raised his weapon and fired an electric pulse into Mothra's flesh. In response, Mothra slammed one of her legs into the platform next to him, causing him to retreat backwards until his momentum carried him over the edge as he dropped his weapon. Another team member sent a pulse into her, with Mothra rearing up angrily and, in retaliation, spewing a high-pressure silk stream into him and several others around him. The force carried them through the railing and to the floors below. Then another stream. And another. And another!

One by one the containment team members fell to her as she crashed through the chamber and their prepared defenses. One of them was even taken into her jaws and thrown into a web of silk she'd cast on the wall.

Tim reached for a switch, but was stopped by Emma.

"Doctor Russell, I'm sorry. But you know our protocols. We _have_ to terminate!"

"No! I can handle this!" Emma retorted.

Grabbing the Orca, Emma made for the doors separating the observation deck from the chamber.

"Mom, no!" Maddie barked, trying to stop her.

"Madison, stay here. It's going to work. I promise."

Maddie was reluctant to let go, but relented as her mother swiped her badge against the ID scanner and allowed her passage through. As the doors opposite began opening, Mothra continued her rampage through the chamber knocking over one of the large statues which she seemed to perceive as a threat in her panicked state. Spotting Emma, Mothra hunched forward and let out a warning roar.

"It's okay." Emma whispered.

Cautiously inching forward, Mothra smacked the platform with her jaws causing Emma's step to falter. Steadying herself on the railing, Emma continued to inch forward slowly. Mothra began to rear up, flushing her body with a red light as a warning to Emma that she'd come close enough. Emma complied, and stopped her advance. Instead, she knelt down, lowering her body as far as she could while opening the Orca. As it was activated, Mothra tilted her head in curiosity.

Emma activated a scan of Mothra's bio-acoustics, and this scan, as well as the sound it produced, forced Mothra to shake her head and retaliate at the sound with a small stream of silk which barely missed Emma. Madison flung herself at the glass, slamming it with her hands crying out for her mother. But Emma remained poised. She leaned in again and shifted some of her settings on the Orca, tightening the focus of the scan and preparing for something new. But Mothra was not done. She released another stream which caught Emma's right arm and pinned it to the railing.

Madison had seen enough. She reached back and swiped Tim's badge before dashing to the ID scanner and slamming the card against it. The device allowed her passage, and she closed the door just as the first scientist reached it to try and stop her, locking them out. The doors opposite slid open, and Madison ran forward at top speed to her mother's side.

"Maddie? What the hell are you doing?! Go back!" Emma cried.

"No! I won't leave you like this!"

Mothra released a stream of silk at Madison, who was only just able to lean over the railing to avoid it. A single strand caught the edge of her jacket and almost pulled it off of her. Maddie had to wriggle out of the jacket, leaving it behind, and dashed forward to help her mother pull her arm out of the silk as Mothra bellowed once again shaking the ground beneath her.

With her hands free at last, Emma opened a new search in the Orca's database. Mothra, meanwhile, reared up as high as she could, her head almost touching the ceiling. And as she began lunging forward towards the pair, the Orca read: _Alpha Frequency Found_.

Pressing the large blue button on the right side, Emma grabbed hold of Maddie and held her close as Mothra's gaping maw moved ever closer. But finally, at the last possible moment, the Orca activated the frequency on a loud, steady pulse.

And instantly… All went quiet.

Mothra cased her attack mere feet from the pair, her body now back to glowing with a soft blue light. And her once aggressive roars had become soft, gentle warbles as she backed away and gazed at the pair again with curiosity. Slowly, they looked up at her, and she continued to stare at them almost expectantly.

"Son of a bitch…" Tim whispered.

Madison and Emma slowly stood up, and Mothra began leaning in towards them. Madison made it to her feet first, and slowly slid her feet across the metal grating beneath her as she raised her hand out towards the larvae. As she did so, Madison could swear that she started to hear music. A soft, subtle chorus of female voices singing a beautiful, graceful melody. Was this just her mind playing tricks on her? Maybe just a song she was remembering from way back when?

It didn't really matter anymore. Madison's body grew warmer as her hand grew closer and closer to Mothra, whose head was now low enough that she was almost crawling on the platform. Closer, closer, and closer she inched towards Madison until the girl's hand was mere inches away. Emma, despite the danger they'd just shared, smiled ear to ear with pride. Not only pride in the Orca for working as promised, but in Madison for having the courage to reach out towards a Titan in such a calm, benevolent manner.

Mothra suddenly let out a small growl which forced them both back a step, but Madison could only chuckle as her mother steadied her.

Emma turned around towards Tim, smiling knowingly. And he smiled back with a subtle nod of his head. However…

**BAM!**

An explosion erupted from the walls behind him shattering the beautiful stone carving followed swiftly by a hail of bullets. Mothra reared up to observe the source of the new sounds as Emma shielded Madison's eyes from the chaos that was now ensuing. Bullet after bullet was fired until the only one left alive was Tim, who slowly stood up with hand in the air as a figure he recognized, but dreaded to ever meet, emerged from the smoking hole in the wall.

They shared a silent exchange for the briefest moment before a pistol was raised and a bullet was placed right between Tim's eyes. Madison gasped as her mother continued to shield her eyes. But Emma, despite the suddenness of this attack, seemed far too calm. Her breath was slightly more rapid than usual, but her face and eyes betrayed her knowledge that this had been coming. And the smile the man who shot Tim gave her spoke volumes to his own expectations of this outcome.

Slowly he looked up at Mothra, and she down at him. And that sinister smile grew slightly wider as he looked down and beheld the Orca pulling with "_Alpha Frequency Found._"


	5. A Husband and Father

**Chapter 4**: A Husband and Father

A television screen playing back footage of the San Francisco battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs played as a colleague of Doctor Serizawa addressed a gathering of US Senators.

"What we are witnessing here, Senators, is the return of an ancient, and forgotten super species. Godzilla. The MUTOs. Kong. MONARCH is uniquely qualified to determine which of these Titans are here to threaten us, and which of these Titans are here to protect us."

"Thank you for the fifth grade history lesson, Mr. Coleman. But we still haven't heard one good reason why MONARCH shouldn't fall under military jurisdiction, or why these creatures shouldn't be exterminated." The head Senator replied.

"MONARCH was tasked with finding and destroying these radioactive monsters-" She continued, as Doctor Serizawa shared a glance with Admiral William Stenz who shifted slightly in his seat while taking a deep breath.

"-But you either can't, or won't tell us how many there are or why they're showing up. So, maybe it's time for the military to put them down." She concluded.

"Killing them would be a mistake." Serizawa began in response.

"They returned because of _us_. It was our atomic testing in the 40's that awoke _Gojira_. Other creatures like the MUTOs were awoken by strip mining and seismic surveys. But these are not _monsters_. They are _animals_, rising to reclaim a world that was once _theirs_."

"It almost sounds like you're protecting them, Doctor Serizawa. As if you admire them."

"I admire _all_ forms of life." He retaliated sternly.

"Senators. If we hope to survive, we must find ways to coexist with Titans. With Gojira." He concluded.

"A sort of symbiotic relationship, if you will. Like the lion and the mouse." Doctor Graham added.

"Or the scorpion and the frog." The Senator retorted.

"So you'd want to make Godzilla our _pet_?" She asked incredulously.

"No… We will be _his_." Serizawa countered, much to the amusement of all non-MONARCH staff in the room.

Suddenly, Doctor Graham's phone began vibrating.

"Uh no… No, actually, uh. That's not what Doctor Serizawa meant." Mr. Coleman tried to say to calm the room.

Doctor Graham showed the phone to Serizawa who immediately stood up and jerked his head towards the door. She responded with a sharp nod, and the pair of them began making for the exit.

"Doctor Serizawa. Doctor Graham! This hearing is not adjourned! I hope you both realize the consequences of walking out that door!" The Senator called after them.

"You know what, Senators? While I confer with my colleagues here I'm gonna set you up with a very brief, and pretty fun, documentary on Titan reproduction. I think this is the one where the uh, genitals are blurred out. But if not, you can leave a comment with my assistant!" Coleman said, running after the Doctors as the screen showed the male and female MUTOs nuzzling behind a blurred circle of censorship.

Meanwhile, in Colorado…

A pack of wolves was hard at work tearing apart a carcass of the buck they'd just brought down. Their snouts were still covered in fresh blood as they growled, grunted, and barked at one another while establishing their pecking order.

Looking at them through the lens of his long-distance camera, shielded by a fallen tree trunk, Mark Russell snapped picture after picture while listening carefully to their vocalizations through his directional microphone's mixer connected to his computer. He closed his eyes as he processed the sounds in his head, filing them into various memorized categories in his brain while they continued their feast.

However, the sounds of helicopter blades whirring caught his, and the wolves, attention. They scattered into the trees nearby as Mark took off his headphones and stood up to observe the chopper coming down to the clearing nearby. And as his eyes landed on the MONARCH symbol on the bottom and sides, his jaw immediately went rigid. The sight of Serizawa and Graham emerging didn't help his mood any either.

At his cabin nearby, Serizawa and Graham gave him a brief update.

"The feed cuts there," Graham said, showing him the last available footage of Madison and Emma being escorted out of the temple by the mysterious man and his crew.

As he watched Mark's jaw was set, his lips tight, and eyes practically on fire as he looked towards Graham while she continued her part of the briefing.

"The few survivors we recovered haven't given us much more than what the footage allows. But we have confirmed that Emma and Madison were the only ones taken." She concluded.

"I'm sorry Mark." Serizawa whispered.

"Sorry?" Mark replied softly, his tight lipped frown turning to a half smile as he slowly stood up and leaned in with both hands on the table.

"_Sorry_ isn't going to bring them back!" He snapped.

Serizawa's own lips tightened a bit, but he took a breath and nodded slowly.

Mark slowly sat down, his hands clenching in fists before one of them ran through his hair.

"I should have been there for them." He whispered, his hand in his hair tightening around a tuft of it and tugging slightly.

His head shook left to right a few times as he bared his top row of teeth from behind his lip, trying to calm himself.

"… Who are they?" He asked quietly.

"We don't know yet. But-" Graham replied as she walked around towards the video monitor, and using its touch controls she began zooming in on the Orca in Emma's hands.

"-We believe they were after this."

Mark looked back and forth between them.

"You _didn't_!" He said in disbelief.

"It's the Orca." Coleman replied.

"Uh, that's why we think they need Emma. She believed that if we could somehow replicate the bio sonar the Titans use to communicate-"

"I know what the hell it is, I helped build the prototype!" Mark snapped as he looked back and forth between Graham and Serizawa. "Who's he?" He asked.

"Uh, Sam Coleman. I'm the Head of Technology. I joined MONARCH uh, shortly after you left. I'm a big fan of your wife…'s work. Your wife's work. And you. And, that just came out so weird. I'm sorry." Sam stuttered.

"Emma and I destroyed the prototype." Mark said on a growl.

"And then Emma decided to rebuild it… After San Francisco she went home to Boston and spent the last several years developing it. She thought it could help-" Graham tried to say.

"Would help what? To play God?" Mark retorted angrily.

"No, no. No. To help prevent another attack!" Graham tried to say in defense.

"The Orca was a grad school science project! It was meant to keep whales away from the shoreline and stop the mass beach die offs. It wasn't meant for you to talk to your little creatures out there!" Mark began.

"Listen to me. They'll _think_ it's one of them. But if you use the wrong frequency on one of em… Then you're going to be responsible for a thousand San Franciscos!" He whispered forcefully.

"Which is why we need to get it _back_. Emma always said nobody knew the Orca better than you." Serizawa stated calmly.

"It shouldn't even exist." Mark retorted, moving to the window to try and calm himself.

"That may be, Mark. But it does. And now it's fallen into the wrong hands. And right now, the Orca is the only thing keeping Emma and Madison alive." Sam said, trying to diffuse the situation.

Mark turned around and stomped towards Sam, grabbing his lapels and slamming him into the wall as Serizawa and Graham both tried to pull him away.

"You think I don't know that?!" Mark screamed, pushing Sam into the wall that much harder.

"That's my ex-wife and my daughter you're talking about! And those are who the hell cares terrorists of some kind! You think I don't know their lives are in danger and hanging by a thread?!" He yelled.

"Mark! Stop this!" Serizawa yelled.

"Please! Let him go!" Graham added.

"I'm sorry! I was only trying to help!" Sam begged.

"Help what?! Help me remember just how close they are to a bullet in the head?!" Mark yelled.

Finally, Mark let go on his own and shoved Serizawa and Graham aside as he walked back to the window and slammed his hands down on the sill, making all three of the others flinch. His breathing was heavy, his jaw tight, teeth bared, and eyes welling with tears he was now struggling to hold back. His fingers raked against the wood leaving scratch marks behind as they clenched into fists.

"I lost one family member to a monster five years ago… And now I'm _this_ close to losing all of them to even _more_ monsters… Not as bad as the _first_ one, mind you. But monsters all the same." He growled, turning his head slowly and glaring at Sam out of the corner of his eye. "You've _no idea_ what that feels like, do you? To lose family to a monster?" He asked on a low, soft, menacing whisper.

Sam gulped, and shook his head. Mark huffed through his nose and stomped to his refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of water from the first shelf. But as he was about to close the door, he spied an unopened beer bottle labeled "_safety net._" Looking at it for a long moment, he shut his eyes and slowly closed the door with his hand trembling as he let go of the handle.

As Mark took a swig of water, Doctor Graham came forward.

"Mark, please. We know you're hurting. But if we find the Orca, we'll find your family… I promise." She said calmly.

Mark unclenched his fists followed a deep breath, and turned swiftly on his heel.

"… When do we leave?" He demanded.


	6. Something Bigger

**Chapter 5**: Something Bigger…

The MONARCH chopper raced through the air through a sea of clouds, descending just low enough to be out of the way of turbulence while seeing the beauty of the ocean beneath and the setting sun on the horizon.

"When was the last time you spoke to Emma?" Graham asked.

"About three years ago. And it wasn't a… Happy… Conversation…" He admitted.

"After San Francisco we went back home to Boston… Tried to put the pieces back together. Emma dealt with it by doubling down on work and saving the world… And I started drinking." He said, his voice quivering ever so slightly.

He glanced out the window towards the horizon as one of his hands clenched to a fist. He closed his eyes momentarily as a stream of memories seared through his mind. And as he opened his hand and his eyes, he looked back over at Doctor Graham.

"I can't tell you how much I hated myself for letting Maddie see me that way." He whispered.

Doctor Graham gave him a sympathetic nod of her head, as she had nothing to offer of comfort to such a statement.

"Uh, you mind if we cut in here?" Sam asked. "It's just, you're gonna wanna see this." He said, handing Mark a tablet.

"Emma combined the bioacoustics of different Titans to create the Orca's signal. A sort of… Baseline frequency that all the creatures seem to respond to. Attracting them. Repelling them. Even at times calming them down. It's pretty remarkable, actually." He said, getting lost in his excitement over the concept.

"The problem is we don't know which Titans she combined. But if you can identify those frequencies we'll be able to track the Orca and find Emma and Madison." Graham stated optimistically.

"Jesus!" Mark whispered.

"How many of these things _are_ there?" He asked.

"Seventeen. And counting after Gojira." Serizawa stated.

"Seventeen?" Mark asked, totally aghast.

"Most of them were discovered in deep hibernation. While others we've contained at top secret sites around the globe. Cambodia, Mexico, Skull Island. We even found one in Wyoming… They're everywhere." Graham said softly.

"Why don't you kill em?" Mark asked.

"The government _wants_ to. But Emma and I believe some are benevolent." Serizawa replied.

Mark could barely form a response to what he'd just heard. His mouth opened part way, but failed to form words for a long moment before he found his voice and whispered angrily at Serizawa.

"Don't kid yourself."

"Uh… Hey look at _that_! We're here." Sam said, breaking the tense silence which had formed in the chopper.

Mark handed the tablet to Graham and moved to the front of the chopper to see where "_here_" was. And out of the foggy haze emerged a lonely landing platform for the chopper.

_Bravo this is Raptor One. On direct approach._

They'd arrived at Castle Bravo. MONARCH Outpost 54 in Bermuda. And as the chopper circled around what looked like a simple shipping container platform split apart and opened a massive tunnel leading down below the ocean's surface large enough for the chopper to descend through. And as the chopper descended, Mark couldn't help but marvel at the technology which had created this massive underwater structure. The tunnel almost seemed to go on forever.

"_This_ is new." He remarked.

"Yeah, we call it Castle Bravo. Our new flagship facility. Built to track and study Godzilla on his home turf." Sam said.

"I thought he was _missing_." Mark retorted.

"Well. Only if you don't know where to look." Sam replied with a smile.

The head of the female MUTO Godzilla had killed five years ago sat in a massive open section of the facility with numerous platforms and catwalks erected around it, undoubtedly for study purposes. Mark looked at it and scowled, remembering what it, its mate, and Godzilla had done to his family's residence in San Francisco and… What they'd done to his son, Andrew. He clenched his teeth and huffed through his nose before following Graham and Serizawa further into the massive facility.

"As you know, at approximately 0700 hours, our containment site in China's Yunnan Rainforest was raided. The specimen, code name Mothra, escaped. But she cocooned herself later under a nearby waterfall." Graham began.

"Wait, wait. Why a waterfall? Don't insects normally dislike water?" One of the others asked.

"Preliminary scans show that Mothra's internal temperature is significantly greater than one would expect of an insectoid life form. We suspect it's because of her massively increased metabolism, and her radioactive properties."Graham continued.

"We've theorized that she chose the waterfall for two reasons. One, to help regulate her temperature. And two, because it offers a passive form of defense against any predatory life forms that may try to find and attack her." Sam added.

"Back on point. Doctor Emma Russell, and her daughter Madison were taken hostage. _This_, is the man responsible."

A picture of the man's face appeared on the screen, and Mark's hands, previously resting calmly on the table, unconsciously clenched into fists.

"After sending his facial scans to our agents in the field, we discovered his name is Alan Jonah. He's a former British army colonel turned eco-terrorist, and he's obsessed with restoring the natural order. Neither he, nor his followers, care who they have to hurt or kill to return this world to mother nature." Graham stated.

"A group of fanatics, in short." Sam added.

"To fund his operations he began trafficking in a new and dangerous market… Titan DNA." Graham continued.

"What the hell is someone gonna do with a giant worm?" Asked one of the soldiers.

"Are you kidding me, Martinez? What _can't_ you do with it? Pharmaceuticals, bioweapons, food. Hell, there isn't a country or company on the planet that wouldn't want to get its hands on one of these suckered. And don't forget, this is just a larva. A baby. After it cocoons itself, something _else_ is gonna crawl out. Something bigger… Meaner."

"We don't know that, Rick." A woman of Chinese descent retorted.

"Oh yeah? Just wait for it, Chen." Rick replied.

Doctor Chen rolled her eyes at Rick as another lead soldier stepped out to begin her section of the briefing.

"Our intel indicates that Jonah wants to capture this specimen. Alive. And this means that he and his mercs won't be far behind. At 0500, we'll ship out to launch a joint operation-"

"I wouldn't bother." Mark interjected.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"This sounds like a duck hunt to me." He continued.

"Uh, Mark, why don't we let Colonel Foster finish-" Sam tried to say politely.

"It's a decoy. A diversion… How many ways do I have to describe it?" Mark asked as he stood from his chair.

"Look, they've already got Emma and the Orca. Why would they want just this _one_ when they've got the keys to your entire magic kingdom of horrors back here?" He asked, gesturing to the screen behind him which showed the locations of all the Titans, and the facilities housing them worldwide.

"I think they want you to go after this Mothra so they can go after a real prize. Something bigger." He concluded.

Serizawa and Graham silently shared a brief, concerned glance with one anther as both of their eyes shifted between a few key facilities on the map on the wall. Africa, Eastern Europe, and… Antarctica.

"… Right." Colonel Foster said, her head tilted slightly.

"Mark. This is not the first specimen they've captured. They know what they are doing." Serizawa said.

"That's not just a specimen. I've got an ex-wife, and a daughter out there… In case you'd forgotten." Mark growled.

"No. No one has forgotten that, Mark." Sam replied. "But to uh, to remind you, you were brought on here to help track the Orca and to advise us-" he tried to continue.

"I _advise_ you to kill these things. _All_ of them. _**Especially**_ _him_." He said, pointing to a picture of Godzilla rising out of the water behind him.

"You wanna make sure these things don't fall into the wrong hands? You kill them, and the Orca's useless." He stated flatly.

Serizawa and Graham both looked away slowly and sighed through their noses, Serizawa rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Emma wouldn't have wanted that. Even to save her life." Doctor Chen retorted calmly.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time Emma put all of this before herself, _or_ her family, would it?" Mark asked.

Doctor Chen had no answer for that, and all she could do, along with everyone else, was watch Mark walk out of the room without another word.

"Dude hates Titans," another soldier said.

"Yeah, well, you would too, if you were him." Sam said quietly in Mark's defense.


	7. Monster Zero

**Chapter 6**: Monster Zero

A MONARCH chopper soared smoothly through the night skies through a thick, foggy haze.

"_Outpost 32, this is Raptor Five, on approach with reinforcements and supplies. Requesting permission to land. Serizawa has all sites on high alert, so transmitting emergency codes now."_

"_Copy that, Raptor Five. Codes are good. Nice to have you back._"

On board the chopper, Emma and Maddie sat across from one another. Maddie looked out the window while Emma overheard the communications and took slow, deep breaths.

As the chopper landed, Jonah and his men began preparing to disembark. One by one they grabbed their weapons and filed towards the rear doors as Madison watched with a creased brow and mouth hanging slightly agape.

"It's good to see ya! Need a hand offloading?" An outpost member asked.

"We're gonna put it over at bay five. Follow me." One of Jonah's men replied calmly.

"Hey. Go back up! Hey! Hey!" A woman shouted.

And all at once, a hail of gunfire erupted outside the chopper. Emma and Madison both sat up straight immediately, backs against the wall, and Maddie closed her eyes taking rapid shallow breaths in a vain attempt to calm her rapidly increasing heart rate. Emma calmly leaned over and wrapped her arms around Maddie to comfort her, but it accomplished very little.

"I'm scared." Maddie whispered.

"I know. Me too." Emma replied.

A few of Jonah's men walked back inside, followed by Jonah himself.

"Okay… Let's go." He ordered.

Following Jonah into the frozen world beyond the chopper, the pair held hands and trudged through the now thoroughly blood-stained snow.

"Eyes straight ahead." Emma ordered of Maddie. "Deep breaths." She added.

The bodies, and blood, caught Madison's breath in her throat. And even without the cold she found it difficult to breathe from the sight of it all.

"Just like we talked about." Emma said.

They walked through the facility to an elevator, crowding inside it as it began its descent. Sub-Level 2… Sub-Level 3… Sub-Level 4… Jonah wiped a bit of blood from the side of his face, and spied Madison staring at him. Wiping his hand in front of his face, he offered her a smile. But Madison's reply… Was the finger, used to rub the corner of her eye as Jonah took a breath of irritation.

Finally, the elevator came to a stop. And as they walked out, Emma and Maddie's breaths both hitched as they gazed up at the unmistakable form of a Titan, or Titans, frozen in the ice ahead.

"Mother of God…" A soldier said.

"She had nothing to do with _this_." Jonah retorted.

It was impossibly large. Three massive heads attached to long, muscular necks tapering down into a single, impressively muscled body. Even through the ice the power of the creature was unmistakable. And from what her mother had told her, she knew only of one name to call this creature.

"Monster Zero." Maddie whispered softly.

Following Jonah through a series of dug out tunnels and pathways, they were led to a central chamber right beneath the creature's body. Emma reached out and touched the ice, trying hard to imagine the majesty held within.

"Any survivors?" Jonah asked.

"No. They tried to launch an emergency beacon. But we cut them off in time."

"They'll figure it out. Fire up the drills." Jonah ordered.

With but a whistle, the man called to his team to begin preparations.

"Do you have everything you need?" Jonah asked Emma.

Emma only nodded.

"Good! Let's get started." He continued excitedly.

Dozens of drills began lining up at various points around the ice holding Monster Zero, and drilled out circular cuts as Maddie placed her hand on the ice as well.

… And even if it hadn't been ice, Maddie felt something cold… Dark… And evil… Emanating from within. Whereas Mothra and her chamber were warm and almost inviting, this was the complete opposite. Like every microfiber of the creature within held nothing but total disdain for the world beyond its prison. Maddie knew she was no psychic, but sometimes she felt like it with the way she easily picked up on these kinds of vibes. Maybe it was her imagination again. Maybe not.

But while Maddie struggled to figure things out for herself, Emma began preparing the Orca with a new bioacoustics scan. However, she encountered an error. One she hadn't foreseen.

"… Shit. That's right." She whispered.

Monster Zero was held in suspended animation. Therefore it was not producing any bioacoustical frequencies for the Orca to scan. If Jonah found out about this oversight on her part…

_Beep_…

_1%_…

"What?" Emma asked herself quietly.

"You say something mom?"

"N-no. Nothing Maddie."

"Problem?" Jonah asked, having come back to grab a radio he'd forgotten earlier.

"No. No problem." Emma replied.

Jonah looked at the scanner, and smirked as he saw it reach 2% on the scan.

"Good. Carry on." He said as he quickly departed.

Emma looked at the Orca, and then to Monster Zero as she heard the Orca reach 3% on the scan.

"How on earth are you…" She whispered while gazing intently at the monstrous shadow above.


	8. Gojira

**Chapter 7**: Gojira

"_We have a grizzly situation up here in the attic."_ Emma said through a recorded video.

"Come on, Andrew. Andrew!" Mark's voice chimed in from behind her.

The camera turned towards the railing around the stairs Emma had been hiding behind, observing Mark interacting with Maddie and Andrew.

"No, you can't do that. That's not. Stop. Look."

The camera then zoomed in on Mark, dressed in a bear costume with Andrew dressed as a dog and Maddie dressed as another small animal. Their faces painted to mimic the animals they were dressed as. Mark stared at the camera for a moment, and gave a rather disdainful look at the one holding it.

"An intr_uder!_ Get her! Get her!" He cried out to Andrew and Maddie.

"No! No don't get me!" Emma cried in response as Mark, Maddie, and Andrew all began rushing for her in a playful game of "Get mommy!"

"Bear kisses!" Mark cried out as Maddie and Andrew continued laughing while chasing Emma around the kitchen.

Meanwhile, the real Mark sat watching the footage with a soft smile at the corner of his lips as a soft chuckle escaped through his nose. Watching himself dressed as a bear grab hold of Emma and "_bite_" her head while shouting "Bear kisses!", his expression sank as he leaned back in the chair.

To his right he spied an empty bottle of water he'd drank earlier. But in the dim light it looked like a different kind of bottle. And the longer he stared at it, the more he saw in his mind's eye the metal cap appear on top, the neck slimmed down, and the paper wrapping on the outside with the words "Jack Daniels" written across it.

He blinked a few times and shook his head, and the bottle had returned to the clear plastic water bottle it was before.

Suddenly, the facility began rumbling…

Colonel Foster's voice sounded on the intercoms.

"_All personnel, report to battle stations! Code red! I repeat! All personnel, report to battle stations! We have a code red!"_

Mark began leaving his quarters, and as he exited he overheard some of the MONARCH facility techs and operators talking about "At least 60 knots!" But before Mark could ask _what_ was at least sixty knots, they'd run off down the halls. Mark gave pursuit towards the command room. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be Serizawa.

"What's happening!?" Mark asked as he reached the command room.

"Something's wrong. He's never been this close before." Doctor Chen replied.

"Who's _he_?" He asked.

"_Who_ do you think?!" She barked.

Graham and Serizawa were near one of the monitors reading out some kind of series of various lines and coordinates. And as Graham pointed towards the corner of the monitor, she addressed Serizawa.

"He's taking out our observation drones!" She said worriedly.

"Trajectory?" Serizawa asked, turning towards Rick and the others.

"Straight at us! 1,200 meters and closing!" Rick replied.

"G-Team! Barnes, Martinez, Hendricks, I want you on those CROWS now!" Colonel Foster ordered.

"You heard boss lady! Let's move!" Hendricks shouted.

As he and the others took their stations and the weapons powered up, lights outside the base flicked on and shone out into the depths to guide their way.

"Doctor Stanton. Do you have his bioacoustics?" Serizawa asked.

"Acoustics, coming up!" Rick replied.

The acoustic scan appeared on Rick's screen, which he transferred to the larger one for all to see.

"Okay he's closing! We're at 800 meters!"

"His movements are erratic. Heart beat and breathing elevated." Graham observed.

"Yeah, he's definitely not happy about _something_." Sam said.

"How are they getting this?" Mark whispered to Doctor Chen.

"Emma isolated Godzilla's bioacoustics. It allows us to track him. Even to get his vitals." She replied.

The facility shook horridly causing dozens to lose their balance. A long groan in the metallic structure could be heard as the sonar image of Godzilla's form appeared.

"Circling now, closing in, 200 meters!" Rick shouted.

"Colonel!" Serizawa called.

"All teams in position, weapons hot, ready to engage on my command!" Foster ordered.

"Hold your fire. We don't know he'll attack." Serizawa warned.

"He will if you keep those guns on him." Mark interjected. "Look, I want him dead more than anyone but unless this is a fight you know that you can win, for God's sake, stand down." He continued.

The facility shook again. More violently this time. Several monitors momentarily lost their feeds before recovering them.

"Stand down." Serizawa whispered.

"You can't be serious." Colonel Foster asked.

"I _am_!" Serizawa replied firmly.

"Stand down." He continued.

Foster let out a frustrated breath.

"Stand down. I say again, safe your weapons. Do not engage."

An eerie silence enveloped the room.

"Listen… His heart rate. It's slowing." Doctor Chen noted as she brought up the readings on the main monitor.

Through the facility, a low growl echoed. And listening in on it the same way he did with the wolf pack, Mark felt something familiar about it.

"Open the shields." He whispered.

Serizawa and several others slowly looked at him with mouths agape.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Let's bring him in for a beer. Are you outta your goddamn mind?" Rick asked.

At the mention of "_beer_," Mark's mouth tightened and his breath caught in his throat. The jab about Mark's sanity also increased his blood pressure, but he fought it back and continued to force himself to remain calm.

"Show him we're not a threat. Open the shields." Mark whispered.

Serizawa stared intently at Mark, and then looked to Rick and the others.

"Do it." He said with a sharp nod.

Rick nodded nervously, and lowered his head rubbing the back of his neck as he pressed the button to open the shields. And slowly, the metal groaned as the doors slid sideways and out while a blue light flashed from outside… And as the doors opened fully, everyone took just a few steps towards the reinforced glass windows to see what was happening.

And there… In the darkness… The blue light emanating from Godzilla's spines flashed with each slow and steady beat of his heart. From the tip of the tail to the base of his neck, and even within his eyes, that blue light shone for them to see at an even rate. Godzilla slowly floated in closer, releasing soft growls as he advanced.

"What's with the light show?" A soldier asked.

"It's an intimidation display. Like a gorilla pounding its chest." Graham said quietly.

"Consider us very intimidated." Sam said nervously.

"I don't think it's for us." Doctor Chen noted as she watched Godzilla's advance.

Mark also took note of Godzilla's slow, deliberate advance, and recognized something in the behavior. And in response, Mark advanced towards the windows to get a closer look.

"What are you doin' dude?" Rick asked.

Godzilla was so close now. The monster who crushed his home in San Francisco and tore his family apart by killing his son, Andrew, was closer than he'd ever been to Mark. He couldn't have been more than fifty meters away now, just beyond the windows. And as Mark continued to observe Godzilla's behavior and note his body language as he floated through the water, Godzilla almost seemed to be studying him right back. But before long, Godzilla retreated into the depths and the lights stopped flashing.

Everyone breathed a collected sigh of relief.

"Well, that was interesting."

No sooner had he said that than the lights flashed again as Godzilla's form arced across their field of view outside the window with a loud roar sending the facility into complete chaos. The electrical interference was stronger than it had ever been, with lights, monitors, and even the wireless tablets losing signal momentarily as Godzilla swam around and away at top speed into the gloom.

Slowly, the lights all came back on as everyone made it back to their feet following the sudden scare.

"Can we maybe close the shield now?" Rick asked.

"Show me his territorial routes!" Mark ordered.

"What? Why?" Rick asked.

"Because I wanna start boat tour. Just show me!" Mark ordered again.

"Okay, coming up." Rick replied.

"Care to tell us what you're looking for?" Foster asked.

"When an animal leaves its hunting grounds or den it's usually because it's threatened by something." Mark replied.

"Run a course projection!" Graham ordered.

Mark turned to Serizawa.

"We gotta go after him. He's looking for something out there." He said.

"How do you know?" Serizawa asked.

"Animals at such a high level of the food chain like him aren't threatened easily. Whatever's got him moving like that has to be at least as big as he is. Either that… Or it could be the Orca." Mark replied.

"Doctor Stanton. What's your projection?" Serizawa asked.

"All paths have him landing in the same place… Antarctica." Rick replied.

"Good then! I mean let's go! Let's go find him! Let's…" Mark began.

Everyone around him had one of two expressions: Disbelief, or fear.

"Wait… What's _in _Antarctica?" Mark asked.

"Barnes... Contact the Argo." Foster ordered quietly.

"Yes, ma'am." He replied as Mark turned and stared at the screen indicating Antarctica's location and Outpost 32.


	9. Escalation

**Chapter 8**: Escalation

"The specimen at this site is... Unlike anything we've ever seen before. As a result we've kept it entirely off-book. And since it's a more recent discovery our data is limited. However, it seems to be another apex predator." Doctor Graham began.

"Emma called it Monster Zero." Serizawa added.

"It may have been a rival alpha to Godzilla. Battling for dominance over the other Titans." She continued.

"Wait, stop right there." Mark interjected. "Battling for dominance _over_ the other Titans?" He asked.

"Why?" Serizawa asked.

"This isn't the Jungle Book with Shere Khan ruling the other animals as King of the jungle, you know. Different species don't have those kinds of relationships. That's a _human_ concept. Animals have natural rivalries and sometimes symbiotic relationsihps with one another. But one alpha species lording over the rest? That just doesn't happen." Mark stated.

"Not in the natural order as we know it. But there is evidence in our database, collected from innumerable carvings, paintings, and artwork, that the Titans are far more complex than the animals we know today." Serizawa countered.

"Doctor Chen." Serizawa ordered.

"Yes, doctor." She replied.

Tapping her tablet, she threw an image on the main monitor showing Godzilla standing tall in the center of the image with other Titans around and below him.

"What's this?" Mark asked.

"Please look closely at this image for a moment, Mark." She asked.

"Okay... So, what?"

"Now, look at _this_ image." She said.

The monitor threw an image of ancient Egyptian pharos surrounded by their subjects, each one beside and below their ruler in almost the same layout as Godzilla to the other Titans.

"Notice anything similar?" She asked.

"Yeah... I see it." He said through partially grit teeth.

"Godzilla's relationship with the other Titans, at least according to the ancient peoples who observed and worshipped them, is very commonly depicted as that of a high class figure. An alpha to whom they all seemed to share a unified sense of respect. Not necessarily a ruler. More like a guardian." She continued.

"So you think Godzilla's out there protecting the other Titans?" Mark asked with irritation.

"That, and more." Chen replied.

"We have reason to believe that Godzilla also helps keep the other Titans in line. If they begin warring with one another, Godzilla is usually the peacemaker. Sometimes by force if he has to be. Please look at the screen again." Doctor Graham said, showing another image of Godzilla standing between two Titans with his spines painted blue.

"Here you can see he's flashing his spines. It's much the same, if not identical, to the display we all witnessed back at Castle Bravo facility. Godzilla is intimidating the other Titans into submission, which you can see in this next image..." The image flipped to another depiction of the same scene, but with both other Titans turning the opposite direction and leaving the area with Godzilla's spines painted normally. "The tactic worked. And according to the ancient writings and art, it worked nearly every time." Graham concluded.

"Gojira is much more than a monster, Mark. He's the key to coexistence. Not just for the Titans. But I believe he is the key for _us_ as well." Serizawa stated with urgency.

Mark nodded his head silently, but his tight lips, hard-set eyes, and the way he looked at the images with disdain spoke volumes. He wasn't buying it.

"So uh... Back to Monster Zero?" Sam asked.

"Yes. Doctor Chen. If you please." Serizawa asked.

"I've been scouring the database compiled by my family. The data spans thousands upon thousands of years of myths and legends. But Monster Zero hardly appears at all. And when he does, such as in this image here," she said, showing a new image of a primitive painting of a three headed behemoth with bat-like wings. "It's almost always drawn or painted by itself. There are almost never any writings to go along with it. Almost as if the ancient peoples were scared to say anything about it." She continued.

"Almost as if Monster Zero was meant to be forgotten. A myth, and nothing more." Serizawa finished for her.

"Sorry, I hate to crash the party. But I got some bad news." Rick said as he walked up on the group.

"You can just say "_news_." It's always bad," Sergeant Barnes said irritably.

"We lost Godzilla." Rick added. "He dropped of the scan near Venezuela."

"Dropped off?" Mark asked.

"I'm telling you, Doctor Brooks was right. It's the Hollow Earth. That's how he moves around so fast, using these underwater tunnels like wormholes. Just like, zippin' around." Rick finished.

"Everyone look sharp. We're approaching the base." Foster announced.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the base itself, charges were being placed all around Monster Zero in the ice. And on a tiny tablet, the alert for incoming hostile forces beeped quietly as it was handed to Jonah.

"They're here." His lacky said.

"Keep 'em busy." Jonah replied.

"Launch reaction force. Move out!" The lacky said over the radio.

As the men scattered to prepare for battle, Jonah looked up at the ice with great anticipation plain as day across his face.

* * *

Beginning its descent, the Argo launched several helicopters, one of which contained the primary crew of Serizawa, Chen, Graham, and Mark.

"If they're looking to extract genetic samples they'll be here, in the bio labs." Graham stated, pointing at a blueprint of the base.

"All right, two minutes! Check your equipment and stand by the door!" Barnes ordered.

Slowly the chopper descended. And as it touched down the soldiers were the first off, guns at the ready and checking every corner as they moved. Inside the main chopper, the scientist screw saw the real-time cameras showing what the soldiers were seeing on their monitors as they entered the ominous and now deadly outpost proper.

* * *

"Come on Ash. Make it snappy." Jonah said with urgency.

Ash pressed a button on a detonator device, priming the charges for detonation should the button be pressed a second time. And throughout the ice, red lights appeared on all the charge devices.

"Detonator ready." Ash announced.

"Let's go." Jonah ordered.

"Come on, Maddie." Emma urged as Maddie looked back at the ice.

* * *

Now off the elevators, the MONARCH soldiers checked their corners and continued moving through the outpost at a healthy clip. And back in the chopper, everyone held their breaths as they waited for the inevitable.

"Remember, eyes wide. We got friendlies in here." Foster said quietly.

"Move to tunnel 2." Barnes relayed quietly to his team. "And stay on overwatch." He added.

Stopping suddenly, Barnes motioned towards a shadow moving through the thin plastic walls set up through the hallways. Counting on his fingers from 3... 2...

**BAM!**

An explosion rang behind them knocking them off balance.

"Ambush! Ambush!" Barnes shouted as Serizawa, Mark, and the others all sucked in a startled and horrified breath.

"Team under fire! 360 ambush! We're taking heavy losses!" He shouted into the comms.

Doctor Chen's eyes were wide as she stared at the screen.

"Break right!" Foster shouted.

As she and her team moved around the corner, they began to fire at incoming figures. And, as Mark watched the screens, the world slowed to a crawl as the images of Madison and Emma appeared, being dragged along behind Jonah.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire! We got friendlies!" Foster shouted, Mark leaning in towards the screen with a tightly set jaw.

Finally, it became too much. Mark turned away, and just like that he was gone.

"Mark?" Serizawa called.

* * *

Emma and Madison were hurried along the tunnel by Jonah and his men while others stayed behind to engage Foster and her team.

"Get down there and help Barnes. I'm going after Jonah!" Foster ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" A soldier replied.

* * *

Outside, Mark ran up to one of the corpses and checked for a firearm... Nothing. He checked another... Nothing. The next one, nothing. He picked the corpse up and threw it aside with a yell of effort.

And just like that... He was suddenly back in the burning ashes of San Francisco.

He looked left and saw only burning rubble and death. To the right was more burning rubble, and more death. And then, straight ahead he saw his home burned and crushed into nothing. Slowly he was overtaken by a shadow. And as he looked up he could barely make out...

A gust of wind nearly blew him over, snapping him back to reality. But as luck would have it, the corpse he just fell next to, covering the side of his jacket in blood, had a firearm at their hip. Mark retrieved the weapon and checked the clip. 6 bullets. More than enough to find Maddie and Emma, put a bullet in Jonah's skull, and cover their escape to an elevator.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the chopper...

"Hey guys. I'm getting an EKG reading." Doctor Chen noted, pointing at the scanner.

Serizawa observed the screen a moment before looking back towards the monitors with the soldier's feeds.

* * *

Inside the outpost, Foster stared through a sniper scope from on high.

"Barnes, this is Foster. I've got eyes on the target. Repeat. Eyes on the target." She whispered.

As Jonah and the others moved along, Mark suddenly appeared from around the corner of the elevator ahead, gun drawn.

"Let 'em go!" He shouted.

Ash raised his weapon towards Mark, but was struck down by Foster who cocked her weapon to prime another shot before his body hit the floor. Jonah knelt down to hide from the sniper, staring at Mark who's wide, stern eyes and bared teeth were all Jonah needed to see to understand why Mark was here.

"Emma! Madison! Let's go!" He called.

"Dad!" Maddie called, the first smile appearing on her face since before Jonah's attack in China.

"Let's go! Emma, Maddie! Come on! I'm here!" He called as they began slowly walking across the catwalk towards him.

Behind them, the ominous clawed foot of Monster Zero in the ice loomed over all like a massive hand ready to squeeze the life out of them.

"Madison! Keep walking, honey! It's gonna be okay!" Mark continued to call as Maddie slowly walked towards him.

"Barnes I've got two hostages, one down. I do not have a shot. Repeat, I do not have a shot." Foster whispered.

Madison continued to advance towards Mark as he called to her, encouraging her to keep moving. However... She stopped midway.

"Emma? Maddie? What are you doing? Let's go!" He called forcefully.

"Dad." Maddie whispered.

"Maddie." Emma said sternly.

Maddie stood silently, the world having since gone quiet in her ears. All she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat. And as she looked to her father, tears welling in her eyes, she slowly backed away towards Emma.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"I'm so sorry, dad." She said, this time louder.

"Maddie! What's wrong, honey?! Why are you moving back?!" Mark shouted.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled, turning away as Emma walked forward a step and picked up the detonator.

"What the hell?" Foster whispered, gripping her sniper rifle more tightly.

Emma looked towards Monster Zero's silhouette above her, and then to Mark.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, holding the detonator up.

"Emma? What are you doing?" Mark called.

Silence enveloped the world.

...

...

"Run." Emma said.

_Beep_.


	10. The Gilded Leviathan, Ghidorah

**Chapter 9**: The Gilded Leviathan, Ghidorah

The ice perforated and split as innumerable explosions shook the caverns. Below Monster Zero on the catwalk, Emma pulled Madison with her as Mark was forced back towards the elevator. Foster nearly fell into the abyss below from the earthshaking force, catching herself on the railing and hauling herself back up as Jonah and the others began their escape.

Higher and higher up the length of the icy prison emerged newer cracks, fracturing and falling away like a rippling wave of dominoes.

"Maddie!" Mark shouted, under heavy fire.

"Dad!" Maddie shouted back as she saw him dive for over.

"Maddie! Let's go!" Emma ordered, pushing her along the tunnel.

Entering the elevator with Jonah, Emma and Maddie watched Mark in the elevator opposite as Jonah hit the ascent button. Mark hit his as well, and his elevator began a game of chase. But with the same rotors and pullies in place, it moved at the same speed and would always be those few precious steps behind.

The walls of ice began to fall away in greater and greater sizes, slamming down into the catwalks and destroying them as a golden light began to emanate from deep within. Flashing once. Twice. Thrice. Something was beginning to awaken.

"Foster!" Barnes shouted.

"Everyone! Gather on me!" Foster shouted.

"Hendrix! On the double!" Martinez shouted as she and Barnes made it to Foster's position.

The ice began falling in and around them as they looked up with despair.

Mark looked down at the soldiers, and then back up at Emma and Maddie's elevator. Their faces were in the glass. He could still see them. They were just there. So close! But...

"Dammit!" He exclaimed.

He slammed his fist into the down position button. His elevator stopped, hitched, and then went back down. A few seconds later, it hit the bottom level. The doors opened, and Mark called out to the soldiers.

"Martinez! Foster! Let's go!" He shouted.

"Move! Move! Move!" Foster ordred as they all sprinted into the elevator.

Meanwhile, at the surface level, Jonah and the others made it out of the outpost and to their chopper as the electrical systems began failing all around them.

"Come on! Let's go! Strap in!" A man shouted.

As they sat down, Maddie turned to her mother.

"What was dad doing here!?" She demanded.

"I don't know, honey!" Emma replied.

The chopper's engines powered up, and began its ascent.

"Mom, we can't leave him here." Maddie begged.

"What are you waiting for?" Jonah asked, looming over Emma.

"Finish waking it up." He ordered.

Emma took a deep, frustrated breath and stood from her seat. Walking to the back of the chopper, she opened the Orca.

Back on the ground, Mark and the others had just made it out and were sprinting for their own chopper as the gorund beneath their feet began to give way. One soldier was unable to escape the rapidly moving cracks in the Earth, and fell into the abyss with a shriek of terror as Mark jumped over it.

The main facility's central operations platform collapsed, falling into the pit which was now glowing with golden light. Explosions erupted from within as more of the outpost fell to ruin. Fuel igniting. Electrical circuits breaking loose and mixing with other open circuits causing mass fires within the icy chasm which had begun to open above Monster Zero's chambers.

Mark looked over his shoudler slowly, and there was Emma on the chopper. Her finger struck the screen, and the Orca began emitting a new frequency pulse.

Deep in the ocean depths, a blue light flashed brightly scaring away a pod of whales as a massive object sailed past them. As the Orca's pulse vibrated through the water, the massive object's speed rapidly began to increase.

Back on the ice, Mark, Martinez, Foster, and Barnes all looked down as the wind suddenly changed directions. Below them, and between their feet, the foggy mist created by the snow layer began racing backwards towards the chasm as if it was being sucked into a vacuum.

And then... The growl.

The ice opposite them cracked and crumbled away as they looked into the cavern. The smoke and fog below had calmed, but that growling began to grow louder as flashes of golden light, almost like lightning, began arcing through the haze. Serizawa and Graham emerged from the chopper and walked towards their friends, only to pause as the growls reached their ears.

As they watched, a large plume of the smokey mist began rising from the center of the gloom. And then, from the smoking abyss... A long, arched, gleaming golden object appeared and began rising into the sky. And as it rose higher and higher, a spiked club-like end seemed almost to open, as if it was some kind of massive multi-switch blade, causing ice to shatter and fall off of it as it continued its slow arc and disappeared down into the abyss once more.

All around them thunder began crashing, and arcs of golden lighting screeched through the skies.

The first golden object was followed by a second, identical in every way. It too arced through the air and extended its knife-like protrusions before an unholy sight befell their eyes.

The head of a draconic creature emerged from the gloom. Eyes shut tight with snow and ice falling off its long, muscular neck. Suddenly, the eyes snapped open, and a flash of lighting raced behind it illuminating its silhouette as it opened its mouth with a long hiss. And then a second head emerged, shaking snow and ice from itself with clear agitation. And finally, a third head rose from the gloom. Its lips curled up, revealing long rows of teeth wtihin its draconic maw as it slowly shook its head.

"You gotta be kiddin' me." Barnes said in disbelief.

The third head to emerge snapped its eyes open, and emitted a guttural growl as the other heads all looked at Barnes and the others.

Inside her chopper, Madison stood in utter astonishment as her mother looked on in wonder.

The central head gave a small roar, and its tail slammed down into the ice not far from Mark's group. The impact shook the earth beneath them, but not enough for them to lose balance. A fact they quickly took advantage of.

"Go, go, go! Get moving!" Barnes shouted.

"Get to the chopper, all of you!" Foster shouted.

The center head roared to the skies, almost as if it was announcing its presence to the world. The head on the right curled downward towards the ground, looking intently at the ice before it gave a straining growl. And suddenly a massive wing broke through the ice and slammed down on the ground. This was followed by a second on the opposing side, and Monster Zero's three heads all reared up and roared as one.

"Fire!" Several soldiers shouted as they began unleashing a hail of bullets.

The head on the right leaned down and began to sniff the tiny creatures firing whatever tiny lights at it they were trying to use as weapons. And as it watched its lips curled back almost into a smile.

Meanwhile, Mark made it to the chopper followed by Foster and the others.

"We'll do an emergency vertical take off at max RPM! Number two's still speeding up!" The pilot announced.

The blades began spinning again, breaking the icing that had formed, and the chopper began to shake slightly as it prepared for take off.

Back at the battle, if it could be called that, the central head bashed into the right head and gave it a stern growl. The right head dipped back in submission, but let its displeasure be known as it snarled towards its sibling. The center head looked to the left, which growled in agreement as they all began to rear up high into the sky. And from within the core of the creature, golden lights began flowing up through its chest, into its necks, and even glowing from their eyes.

And as the light pulsed through its body, seemingly igniting a greater level of electrical inteference in the skies behind and around it, the heads reared up and all took aim.

"Oh... Shit." One soldier exclaimed.

The three heads screamed in unison as they unleashed a torrent of golden lightning from their mouths which instantly disintegrated most of the soldiers below. Those who weren't hit directly were burned alive on the spot from how hot the air around the lightning bolts were, and fell down dead on the ice.

The electrical disturbance of Monster Zero's attack caused sparks to shoot through the interior of the chopper as it struggled to spin both engines enough to take off, and with that surge the chopper lost power.

On her chopper, Maddie looked at the Orca in her mother's hands...

Monster Zero's central head looked towards the slowing blades of the chopper with curiosity, but noticed its right-most sibling licking the charred remains of the soldiers they'd just slaughtered. Leaning down quickly, it growled loudly into its sibling's ear earning a hiss of reluctant agreement in reply. And then, together, they set their sights on the chopper as the creature began walking slowly towards it.

"This is Raptor One to Argo! Requesting immediate urgent extract! Again! I say immediate urgent extract!" Foster called into the radio.

Back on her chopper, Maddie finally lunged for the Orca, snatching it from her mother's hands and putting it on the ground as she changed frequencies and fired up a new pulse. The pulse had an immediate effect on Monster Zero who screamed in confusion and irritation, all three heads trying to shake off whatever this most annoying sound was.

"You need to let go of it!" Emma yelled.

"No! Dad's down there! I'm not going to let that thing kill him!" Maddie cried back as Emma fought to get her daughter off the Orca.

Jonah arrived and pulled Madison away while Emma retrieved the Orca. Monster Zero was charging its attack and taking aim at her, so she changed to another frequency and quickly hit the button to begin the pulse. Monster Zero immediately halted its attack, shaking it off like a bad hangover. The center head seemed to check the wellness of its left sibling, and then bit the horn of its right sibling pulling it up and into order. And with the irritant gone, they refocused their attention back towards the powerless chopper on the ground.

And the last thing Madison saw through her thoroughly moistened eyes was the sight of Monster Zero closing in on her father as the doors to her chopper shut tight.


	11. Clash of the Titans

**Chapter 10**: Clash of the Titans

Monster Zero's nose gently tapped the chopper, but what was such a gentle tap to such a creature felt like being hit with a skyscraper to the occupants within. Mark flew from one side to the other, having failed to strap himself down in time. Serizawa unhooked himself and helped Mark to his feet, but both were caught in another tap from the creature sending them both to the ground. A brief break in the action gave them time to fight their way to their feet and strap in, and just in time to endure yet another tap.

The right-most head let out a cackling warble as it watched its siblings tap the tiny machine, and the left-most head reared up and snarled at it with lips curled back. The right head leaned away for a moment, but then lunged and snapped at its sibling, shaking its head side to side in a display of aggression. However, the left head was having none of it. It lunged towards its sibling even _faster_, and actually nipped the right head near the base of the jaw causing it to rear back as it dipped down in submission. The right head barked a roar at its sibling, who flinched further down and looked away. Huffing through its nose, the left head looked back at the chopper and leaned in to tap it again.

But suddenly... They stopped.

Serizawa observed out the window as they began to look around in all directions, seemingly looking for something, as they clicked and warbled at one another. Doctor Chen looked at the EKG reading, which had spiked since last they looked.

Inside the chopper, the group started hearing a _**ping **_reverberating through the chopper.

... _**Ping**_.

..._** Ping**_.

And on the sonar, a familiar shape was forming as it moved closer and closer to their position.

"What the hell?" Barnes asked.

"Gojira da." Serizawa whispered in reply with a satisfied smile before a blue light began flashing through the cockpit windows.

Everyone rose to their feet and looked out the nearest window for a glimpse of what was going on, and for better or worse the sight took their breaths away.

Thousands of meters away, slicing through the ice were three rows of glowing blue spines. Rising from the spines was a steaming mist, generated by the heat of the display and trailing behind like a miniature stream of the aurora borealis. The ice broke away and crumbled under the spikes as if it were nothing. Almost as if the ice was retreating just a split second before the spines arrived. And with great speed, they continued slicing a path forward directly at Monster Zero.

Speaking of... Monster Zero had spotted the oncoming display as well. The central head stood high in the air as the other two drooped slightly lower. The right head looked up at its central sibling, which gently growled down to it. Then, it growled down to the left head, which snarled as it looked towards the oncoming challenger. And finally, all three heads rose up together, sitting side by side in a row, as they waited for their rival to arrive.

And arrive he did.

The spines slowly sunk down beneath the ice and disappeared, along with the flashing blue light. But as everyone looked on, that silence which had overtaken the entire Antarctic field... Was not a long one.

Exploding from the ice, suddenly a mere one hundred meters away from the chopper, were the enormous spines of Godzilla flashing brilliantly on full display as his enormous bulk threw the surrounding ice to the sides in all directions. With his head and back rising higher and higher, the guttural growl which he emitted shook the ground causing the chopper to quiver beneath his majesty. Rising to his full height, Godzilla huffed a growl towards his rival with a thick steam billowing forward through the frigid air as his spines continued to flash his display of power.

Monster Zero, however, was not intimidated. The central head snarled and roared at Godzilla, who glared back with a snarl of his own. Monster Zero then rose up while spreading its wings to full extension on either side creating a frightening display of his own. Any other Titan surely would have fled before his display, but Godzilla was not just any Titan. He stomped his feet, cracking the ice beneath him, and took a deep breath in before releasing an ear-shattering roar towards his rival. Monster Zero replied in kind with the center head roaring first, then the left, then the right, as it began to walk forward.

Godzilla took his first step forward as well, casually stepping over and around the chopper which was struck by the side of his tail and sent spinning along the ice and into an elevated ice rift created by Godzilla's stomp. As it struck the ice rift, everyone held on for dear life and checked that they were okay.

And at last, the Titans collided.

The left head eagerly lashed out first at Godzilla, but was caught in Godzilla's claws resulting in a thunderous concussive burst of force. Godzilla growled loudly as he pulled the head downwards and opened his jaws before clamping down hard around the neck he'd just grabbed. The head shrieked in agony, but was not left to fend for itself for long. The center head snapped its jaws shut around the upper right side of Godzilla's face, his teeth just barely missing Godzilla's eye.

A slight hiss escaped Godzilla's mouth, but instead of retreating he leaned to the right, and then jerked to the left. The head in his hands had just enough slack in the neck to fling upwards and hit the center head forcing its grip on Godzilla to fail as its jaws opened while it released a roar of pain. This gave Godzilla the time he needed to open his jaws, grab the head around the mouth with both hands, and slam it down into the ice below.

The impact flung the chopper off the rift and further back and away from the warring Titans, much to everyone's great relief. However, that relief was short-lived. They'd landed near the edge of a ravine in the ice, and if they didn't get out soon, they'd all fall to their deaths.

Godzilla, following the slam, had turned around to face the other two heads. And within moments he was met with not one, but two open sets of jaws rapidly closing in on him. The center head aiming for his neck, the right head aiming for his shoulder. He had to choose one to stop, so he stopped the one in the middle with both claws. The one on the right, anticipating this, changed direction and reached out while clamping its jaws around Godzilla's throat just below his jaw. And with his jaw now pinned in place by the side of Monster Zero's right head, Godzilla couldn't open his mouth to launch his primary attack despite the fact that he'd begun charging it. His spines flashed blue for a moment, but then the light faded.

The left head, shaking off the trauma it suffered, lashed up with great speed to bite Godzilla's neck as well while its lower jaw sunk its teeth into Godzilla's gills. The soft, fleshy patches were one of Godzilla's few physical weak points, and this resulted in a high pitched squeal of agony as Godzilla stepped back in a desperate attempt to retreat from the joint assault. All the while, he never let go of the center head.

"Hurry! Everyone out! Now!" Foster ordered.

"Mark! Hurry!" Doctor Graham shouted.

"I can't! I'm stuck!" Mark called back, pinned beneath a set of stray cabling and piping.

As the first of them made it out, they heard a screech behind them. Godzilla's head was forced back by the two which bit his throat, and that forced him to let go of the central head which launched its lightning blast into his chest while the other two let go before joining in. Godzilla staggered back, and fell into the ice a short distance away from the chopper. Meanwhile Monster Zero's left head snapped its jaws and jerked its head in a display of aggression while the other two observed carefully.

Godzilla pushed himself onto his side and looked up before roaring defiantly at Monster Zero. But as he exited the chopper, Serizawa noted that there was something dripping from Godzilla's neck. And whatever it was, it was staining the snow and ice beneath him.

On the chopper, Graham managed to lift the piping and cabling to the side.

"Can you move?!" She cried.

"Yeah! I got it! I'm out! Go! Go! Go!" He shouted back.

Together they managed to jump out of the chopper just in time before it fell into the ravine. And as they watched it, they heard the shrieks of the Titans behind them which drew their attention.

The left head shot Godzilla point-blank with the lightning blast, earning a growl of pain and anger as Godzilla's tail slammed into the ground.

Then, as Mark looked on, the first spike on the tip of his tail burst to life with blue light. Then, the second. The third. Fourth. All the way up his back as Mark's eyes trailed behind until they reached his neck. And as they did so, steam began to rise from them once again creating a beautiful but frightening display as Godzilla took a deep breath and let fly with his thermonuclear breath stream. But sadly, the three heads of Monster Zero avoided the attack, looked to each other, and blasted simultaneously at Godzilla's upper chest and lower throat causing him to rear back in pain. Continuing his own stream of destruction, Godzilla fell backwards and turned his head to the side destroying a large section of what was left of the outpost.

As Monster Zero continued to blast his chest, Godzilla slid along the ice before falling into the cavern Monster Zero had crawled out of with an echoing roar.

Sprinting towards the others, Mark and Doctor Graham's breaths rose into the air before vanishing into the haze. They both looked up towards Monster Zero as it looked towards where Godzilla had fallen, and then back to their comrades a short distance away as they all urged them to keep running.

Their shouts of encouragement, however, caught Monster Zero's attention.

All three heads looked down at the tiny creatures running across the ice. And all three hissed and crept down to get a closer look. But it was the right head which moved forward the furthest with its mouth hanging agape. Mark and Doctor Graham stopped in their tracks and screamed, but were miraculously saved by the middle head snapping at the right one's neck causing it to flinch to the side at the last second just barely missing them. They fell backwards from the wind generated by the snap, and crawled back and away as the center head again bit the horn of right and tugged on it in reprimanding fashion followed by a growl. The right head dipped down in submission and looked away, leaving the center and left heads to snarl and hiss at it.

"Come on! Let's go!" Graham shouted as she helped Mark to his feet.

Suddenly, an explosion struck Monster Zero's center mass, followed by another and another.

It was the Argo. Finally, it had arrived. And with reinforcements. Together with the fighter jets they unleashed a hail of missiles at Monster Zero who raised a wing in defense of itself. The onslaught was relentless, however, as the Argo and its escorts unloaded everything they had at the beast while Mark and Doctor Graham rejoined the group and continued running to a safe distance.

Godzilla, meanwhile, had risen from the chasm and flared his hands to the side with a roar of rage, spines flashing blue, before Monster Zero took to the skies. And with each flap of his magnificent and enormous wings, the sky seemed to churn and swirl around him a little more. As well there was a greater and greater electrical disturbance following him with bolt after bolt of lightning arcing through the clouds.

Godzilla roared up after his rival as the Argo landed nearby, its rear doors opening, and Mark taking one last look back at Godzilla who took a deep breath and snarled towards Monster Zero in the distant skies... His eyes flashing blue with deadly intent.


	12. Coexistence

**Chapter 11**: Coexistence

Her ears were ringing. The sounds of explosions, barely audible as if miles and miles away, echoed slowly through her brain. She felt light headed. Her stomach was churning. She lay in a pool of both blood and vomit. Her throat sung, and was dry and hoarse as she pushed herself up onto shaky arms.

"Momma?" She called, coughing and dry heaving immediately afterwards.

All around her was chaos. Too and fro the people of her village sprinted in all directions. Some clung to their children. Some clung to their belongings. Some held onto nothing at all but continued running for their lives.

As her head began to clear and the ringing calmed, all at once the world came back to normality. Gunshots, explosions, and shouting were all she heard as she looked left and right. She looked down at her hands. They were so small. Those of a child. But how? Looking up, she saw her mother at last, and her aunt who was her mother's twin. Together they held weapons and crouched behind cover while firing at the invaders.

"Momma!" She called again.

She rushed to her feet and began running. Her mother, hearing the sound of her child's voice, looked back.

"No, Ilene! Stay back!" She cried.

Little Ilene Chen's hand was grabbed from behind and she was pulled into a nearby building. Looking at the one who grabbed her, it was her twin sister, Ling.

"It's okay, Ilene! It'll be all right!" Ling urged, gently cupping Ilene's cheeks in her hands.

Ilene cupped Ling's back, and they pressed their foreheads together for comfort as the sounds of war continued to rage outside. The sounds of a chopper arriving on the scene, followed by more gunfire, had the girls crying out in terror while hugging each other for dear life.

And finally... All went quiet.

The girls slowly looked up at each other, and then to the door. Beneath it, the sunlight was blocked by a shadow. The door knob began to twist, and then the door was opened. Slowly, the wood creaked as the girls hands gripped more tightly as they pressed themselves back against the wall. And into the room walked a tall, dignified man of Japanese descent. He looked around, and spotted the girls in the corner. Slowly he approached and knelt down, extending a hand to them.

"Don't be afraid." He whispered calmly.

His voice was deep, powerful, and yet calming all at once. Both girls could feel the other's heart beat slowing, and they looked at one another before standing up and reaching for him. He waited patiently as they placed their hands in his, and he walked them outside to see that their village, though a little the worse for wear, had been saved. The invaders were gone, and their people were gathering the wounded for treatment.

The girls mother spotted them and gasped.

"Ling! Ilene!" She cried.

She ran to her daughters and embraced them both tightly, crying in happiness that they were all right and had managed to keep each other safe. The girls cried into their mother's shoulder, and the tall gentleman watched with quiet satisfaction at seeing them reunite. As they calmed, they looked up at him.

"Who are you?" Their mother asked.

"My name is Ishiro Serizawa. It's nice to meet you." He said with a smile.

Little Ilene looked up in wonder at the symbol on his jacket. A kind of sideways hourglass of sorts, stylized with sharp corners instead of curves. And in a way, they reminded her of the wings of...

"Hah!" Ilene gasped as she awoke in a cold sweat.

Her heart was racing. Her body moist and cold to the touch. She gripped her bare arms as she caught her breath and sighed.

"That's ten nights in a row now. Why is this memory recurring so often?" She groaned.

The phone beside her bed rang, startling her. And the caller ID revealed it was her sister.

"Ling?"

"Ilene. Are you all right?" Ling asked.

"Yes. But-"

"It happened again, right? You relived the day he saved us too, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"What could it mean?"

"I don't know, Ling."

"Well, just be careful Ilene. I hesitate to guess what such a frequently recurring dream could mean for us."

"You too, Ling. We'll talk again soon."

Ending the call and putting her phone down, Ilene took a deep breath and looked at a picture nearby of herself and Ling standing beside Doctor Serizawa. The picture was only a few years old, yet both of them still looked so small compared to him. Like a pair of fairies beside a human. The thought brought a smile to her face as she dressed herself and made her way towards the bridge of the Argo.

Meanwhile, Mark had awoken from a nightmare as well. He had once again relived the night of the San Francisco attack by Godzilla and the MUTOs. The dream was the same as before. The house crushed beneath Godzilla's foot as all hope of finding Andrew were crushed along with it.

Shaking it off and getting dressed, Mark looked out his window at the clouds floating by slowly beneath the Argo's wings.

On the bridge, Foster had gathered the others to discuss what had happened.

"Anything from our satellites?" She asked.

"Subs have Godzilla hauling ass off Argentina, and we lost Monster Zero in a tropical storm over Brazil. We're scanning the entire southern hemisphere for him now. But so far, nothing." Rick replied.

"Then scan the northern too!" Foster demanded.

"Yeah, okay. Yeah." Rick said, somewhat irritated.

Doctor Chen arrived, and was greeted gy Serizawa and Graham who were deep in a discussion about Monster Zero and Godzilla's battle. The primary subject of conversation was how Monster Zero could fight so well after spending thousands of years in suspended animation with no food or fuel of any kind.

"I know what I saw, and I'm telling you Sam she pressed the button." Foster said.

"All due respect, Colonel, you saw wrong. Okay? She wouldn't have done that. Christ, she recruited pretty much everyone in this room who's not top level staff yet." Sam argued.

"Maybe Jonah forced her, right? Maybe used Madison as leverage?" Rick asked.

"No, no. It had to be someone else." Sam said.

"Emma." Mark said, arriving on the bridge.

Everyone's eyes turned towards him.

"It was Emma." He said, his voice soft and low.

Foster nodded slowly as Sam continued to shake his head in disbelief.

"Nobody forced her. She picked it up, looked me in the eye, and said "_run_." Then she pressed it." Mark finished.

"So first, she releases Mothra. Then Monster Zero. Is anyone else seeing a pattern beginning to emerge?" Foster asked.

"Yes, and not a good one. It's as if she's trying to start a mass awakening." Ilene said.

"Well it's too bad nobody tried to warn you _that_ was gonna happen." Mark said, taking a few steps towards her as she glared silent daggers back at him.

"Hang on guys. Why the hell would she want to release them? And why would she team up with Jonah, of all people, to do it?" Sam asked.

"We'll ask her when we find her." Serizawa replied, fixing his glasses. "So let's keep looking."

Everyone nodded silently, save Doctor Graham who sat down and exhaled a deep breath.

"You all right?" Serizawa asked, taking a seat next to her.

"I'm all right. Just... It was the closest I'd ever come to dying. When I looked into Monster Zero's eyes, I just... Froze." She said with a subtle quiver in her voice.

Serizawa put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring shake before standing and approaching Mark.

"You were brought here to help us track these creatures because of your experience with animals and their behavior. So, I want to hear your thoughts on where Monster Zero might be headed." He said.

Mark took a breath.

"If I'm gonna track him, I need to know more about him. The pictures you showed me were nice and all, but they didn't tell me anything about where he may have nested or spent most of his time. And without knowing what his primary territory was, I can't tell you much more than you already know." He said.

"Doctor Stanton." Serizawa said.

"Sure... Here." Rick replied, putting an image on the table monitor of a map of the world.

"What am I looking at?" Mark asked.

"You're looking at Monster Zero's known territory." Rick replied.

"There's nothing there." Mark countered.

"Exactly. Cause we don't know where his territory was." Rick finished.

"All that we know about Monster Zero is that it just... Appeared... For lack of a better word, in the Antarctic ice thousands of years ago. Its body was covered with small burns and scratches, likely from an old conflict with Godzilla. But that's all." Doctor Graham stated, finally rising from her chair.

"There _has_ to be more than just that." Mark said angrily. "Didn't you say you bored into the ice to retrieve samples?" He asked.

"Yes. But our drilling returned next to nothing." Serizawa replied flatly.

"Wait. "_Next to nothing_?" What was the little bit you _did_ find?" Mark asked.

"The only sample we recovered from taking a tiny piece of one of his scales near the follicle of his claws was a tiny sample of a meteorite fragment." Serizawa replied.

"So, what? Did he nest in a meteor impact crater? Was he hit by one? Fell into a ditch with one? Did one fall into the ice near him and get stuck on him somehow?" Mark asked.

"We don't know. We found it near the follicle of his claws. That's all." Serizawa replied flatly.

"Well sorry, Serizawa. But that's not really helping me here." Mark said, shaking his head slightly.

Serizawa nodded and took a deep breath as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Mark. Can you give us _anything_ about Monster Zero based on his appearance?" Ilene asked, bringing up a scanned 3D image of the creature on the table monitor.

Mark walked closer and circled the table, taking mental notes of everything he saw.

"Well... It's reptilian in nature. But I don't think it's cold blooded like most reptiles we know." Mark said.

"Why's that?" Rick asked.

"Animals that are cold blooded can't regulate their own body temperatures. So when they're in cold weather, they get sluggish and lethargic. But we saw both this thing and Godzilla fighting and moving like normal. So I'm guessing that they're both warm blooded creatures who can regulate their own body temperatures. This means they can both survive almost anywhere on the planet, regardless of temperature, climate, or any other living conditions other animals can't handle." Mark stated.

"So what's that mean for us?" Sam asked.

"It means we're in for a rough ride. That Monster Zero thing, big as it is, is going to need food or fuel at some point after waking up from hibernation. So we're likely to see it seek out a source of energy. And given that you've labeled it bio-electric, I'm guessing it's most likely to head for heavily residential areas which have multiple power generators lying around to suck energy from." Mark replied.

"Well _this_ day just keeps getting better." Rick stated sarcastically.

"Doctor Chen. Do you think you can dig up those photos from your family's archives again? Maybe I can pick up on something if I look at them again?" Mark asked.

Ilene smiled.

"Sure." She replied, leaving the room to fetch her tablet.

"Head's up, everyone. Godzilla appears to be following the same path as Emma's osprey, heading north over and around South America to here. Outpost 56 on the Isla de Mara in Mexico. We'll be there in about ten minutes." Foster announced.

"What about the people?" Mark asked.

"Excuse me?" Foster replied.

"The people down in that village? If whatever's in that mountain awakens then those people are gonna be the special of the day." Mark said forcefully.

"We've sent G-Team to begin an evacuation." Serizawa replied.

"Doctor. We have a call from Isla de Mara." A comms officer announced.

"Open the call." Serizawa replied.

And then, on the main screen, appeared the face of Emma Russell sitting calmly and watching her screen as she scanned everyone's faces.

"I suppose I should go first." Emma said quietly.

"Where's Madison?" Mark demanded.

"She's right here with-"

"Dad! Are you okay?!" Madison asked frantically.

"I'm fine, Maddie. You all right honey?" He asked.

"Yeah. And dad?" She began.

"What is it, Maddie?"

"... I'm sorry." She whispered.

"You don't need to be, honey. It's okay." He replied.

"She's fine, Mark. Trust me." Emma replied.

"_Trust_ is a little hard to provide you given what you pulled out there, Doctor Russell." Foster barked.

"I know. And I-I can only imagine what you're all thinking. But if there were any other way to do this, then I would." Emma replied.

"Do _what_, Emma?" Mark asked through grit teeth.

"... I'm saving the world, Mark. Just like I always-"

"Saving it _how_? By releasing those things?! That doesn't make any sense!" He yelled.

"As impossible as it seems, it does, Mark. So hear me out, please." She said quietly.

Mark's mouth shut and his lips sealed tight.

"This better be good, Emma." He growled.

"... After we lost Andrew, I swore his death wouldn't be in vain. And that I would find an answer. A solution to why the Titans were rising, so I could stop them from creating another San Francisco event. But... As I dug deeper, I started to realize that they were here for a reason."

"And what reason is that?!" Mark demanded.

"... Mark... If there is a God out there, these creatures are its first children. Human beings have only been here for a handful of thousands of years. A blink of an eye compared to how long some of these Titans have been here. But look at the difference between them. The Titans were part of the natural order. But humans?... We've seen fit to put ourselves _above_ the natural order. We create concrete roads and buildings over the grass and dirt, depriving the world of a chance for life beneath every square inch of what we call "_civilization_." We've begun reaching an overpopulated state where our ability to produce goods to sustain our existence will soon be exhausted and yield diminishing returns. We're driving other species to extinction in the name of our own expansion. We kill one another using bombs that destroy the landscape and other innocent creatures that have no say in the matter. We produce pollution which slaughters dozens of species every decade on its own due to their inability to adapt to the dropping air quality... Don't you see? We're _killing_ mother nature and this planet for our own personal gain, and everywhere you look everyone seems perfectly content in the idea that it doesn't matter. That we'll be fine no matter how far we push. And worst of all... They're content in the idea that nature deserves nothing in return for all we're doing to her."

Emma took a breath, and it was obvious through how strained it was that she was fighting back tears of frustration. She blinked away the moisture, and continued.

"Like all living things, mother nature and the Earth released a fever to fight the infection that humanity has become. And that fever. Or rather, that _cure_... Is the Titans."

Mark shook his head.

"Mark, don't you see? The Titans are, and have always been, part of the natural order, and mother nature's only real way of defending herself from us and the power that we've created. Bombs. Pesticides. Guns. Nukes... The Titans are all she has. If we take them away from her, then this planet will perish... And so will we."

Mark took a breath and ran a hand through his hair.

"Mark... Look. I know that this sounds impossible. That it sounds crazy. But it's not. Just look at this." Emma said, screen sharing several images and time-lapse sequences of destroyed cities which, after the Titan's passing through, had begun rejuvenating nature.

"Look, Mark. Just like how a forest fire fertilizes the soil. How a volcano creates new land. We've seen signs that these creatures will ultimately do the same. Everywhere they go, destruction of our civilization ensues, but is followed by the revitalization of nature and life. San Francisco and Las Vegas, in five short years, have both become overgrown with new plant life, and numerous animal species are now calling it home when they never could before due to our presence." She continued.

"Enough, Emma!" Mark yelled.

Emma was taken aback by his outburst.

"You say they're helping this planet. But who are _you_ to decide that this is what's right? That killing off humanity city by city is justified?! Because if one person, or even a singular group of people like Jonah and his flunkies are allowed to wield the Orca to make this a reality... Where's the justice for the rest of humanity? Where's the justice or the fairness for those who don't know it's happening?" He argued.

Emma took a breath.

"Killing off humanity so the Titans can "_regrow_" nature afterwards isn't saving the world Emma. And it's not "_balance_" either... It's genocide. Plain and simple." He growled.

Emma shook her head quietly.

"Mark... I thought you of all people would be able to see where I'm coming from here. We spent years working on the Orca so we could protect life. But now that I'm actually taking more proactive measures to do that on a grand scale, you're calling it genocide."

"What _else_ can I call it, Emma?!" He yelled.

"How about coexistence?!" She yelled back.

Serizawa sat up a tiny bit straighter, holding his breath.

"The Orca isn't just a tool to wake these Titans up and then let them run free! You of all people should know that! Using Godzilla's alpha frequency _alone_ is capable of calming other Titans, repelling them from certain areas, or even sometimes pacifying them so we can get closer! Mothra is proof of that! You can ask Madison if you need to about that!" Emma cried, her eyes welling once again.

"Humanity can coexist with them, Mark. But we must set them free. We _must_! They can replenish and revitalize this world. Yes, we might have to make sacrifices. But isn't that what compromise is, Mark? Coming to a mutual understanding and sometimes sacrificing something personal so that everyone can feel like they're being treated fairly?" She said through ragged breaths.

"It's possible, Mark. It's _possible_! Humanity and the Titans aren't in a war here! Not unless you listen to the governments who want them destroyed out of fear and ignorance! The Titans are here as another set of species we need to learn to understand and live alongside. Just look at Godzilla! He lives in the sea. And as long as we leave him alone, he leaves _us_ alone!" She pleaded.

Finally, she put her face in her hands and sobbed. Her tears leaked through her fingers to the table, and all aboard the Argo fell silent. Even Mark, who sat down in a chair. And when Emma composed herself, she wiped her tears away and looked at the camera with determination.

"I'm doing this for all of us, Mark. Especially Andrew. He's gone... Noting will change that... Our baby boy is gone... But I can... _We_... We can create a world he would be proud of... Together." She said quietly.

Mark let out a breath through his nose and stood up, glaring at the screen.

"Emma... Just stop. Andrew never saw the Titans until it was too late. And he died before he could make a choice or tell us what he'd want... So how do you know this is right by him?" Mark asked calmly, but with authority.

Emma's lower lip quivered as she struggled for an answer.

"... Mark... (_sniff_)... I urge all of you to seek refuge... I started on this path, and I'm going to see it through." She said calmly.

Mark grit his teeth and looked down and away, as he knew that face she was making.

"Take care... All of you... Coexistence is possible. But we need to let nature make its statement before we can take the steps needed to make it so."

With that, she cut the feed and sunk back into her chair with a deep, heavy breath. Madison, standing nearby, slack jawed, could only take sharp, short breaths as she fought to maintain her own composure. And as Emma looked to Maddie, she offered a weak smile.

"It'll be okay, honey. I promise... I know that some of that sounds bad, but it's the best thing for all of us." She said calmly.

"... How do I know that?" Maddie asked.

Emma faltered.

"I-... Because..." She stuttered.

"What if dad's right? What if this is a mistake?" Maddie asked.

"... It's not, Maddie." Emma replied softly.

"How do you know?!" Maddie screamed before darting away to her quarters.

Emma let out a sigh, her hands supporting herself on the table as she swept her bangs out from her face.

"It'll be okay, Maddie... I promise... It'll be okay." She whispered to herself.

Back on the Argo, everyone's attention turned to an alarm.

"Oh boy... She shut down the containment system." Rick said as an a live feed of Isla de Mara appeared with a red ring around it.

In the bunker she'd broadcast from, Emma breathed heavily as Jonah's men prepared for the next phase.

"Doctor?" Jonah said quietly.

Emma looked at him slowly.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

She nodded, and walked over towards the Orca.

"You're right, you know." He said calmly.

She glanced up at him.

"This _is_ the way." He added, looking up at the screen showing Isla de Mara.

"Change is never easy, and often times it comes with pain." He said.

In his mind, an echoing chorus of screams and the sounds of war rang incoherently like a cacophony of death. The last thing he heard was the word "Papa!" before a single gunshot brought all the sounds to a grinding halt. Opening his eyes and letting out a breath, he nodded quietly at Emma.

"Do this, and only _some_ will die. Don't do it, and _everything_ will die before long." He whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"This is the only way, Emma... Activate the Orca, and help the world take another step towards balance." He urged, removing his hand and backing away a step.

Emma looked at the Orca and placed her finger over the touch panel. Hesitating for but a moment, Emma took a breath and tapped the screen activating the pulse to awaken the slumbering behemoth within the volcano.


	13. The Fire Demon

**Chapter 12**: The Fire Demon

Below the shadow of the volcano, the city's sirens blared as the evacuation ensued. But mass panic was inevitable. The streets were littered with thousands upon thousands of people all scrambling to reach the choppers and boats leading off the island. At the choppers, capacity was being rapidly reached.

"Tell them to slow it down and stand back. Repeat. Stand back!" Barnes ordered to a man with a megaphone speaking spanish to translate the orders.

Behind a dashing crowd and above the building rooftops, a small rising pillar of smoke from the volcano emerged. And following this pillar of smoke, a slightly muffled, but still very audible shriek like nothing any of them had ever heard before pierced the heavens.

The Orca's pulse began reverberating, pushed out through the speakers atop the volcano's containment barrier. It cut through the silence of the world below as the containment barrier's lid was smashed by something hidden beneath it and sent flying into the air with a fiery explosion. And along with it, a massive plume of smoke and ash emerged and filled the skies like a black mushroom cloud.

Atop the volcano, MONARCH's stationed soldiers ran too and fro to their battle stations as a massive claw emerged, and three long, sharp claws dug into the metallic platform. Shortly after, two massive horns emerged from the fires, and a head still covered in lava was soon to follow. And as the soldiers beheld the reptilian avian's rise, two glowing orange eyes snapped open, pupils dilating against the sun's light, as it shook its head throwing small spurts of lava all across the platform. One of them struck a soldier, who quickly began burning alive beneath it as his friends attempted desperately, and in vain, to free him from his molten death trap.

To the people below, it was like watching the winged form of Satan himself emerging from the fires of hell.

The creature spread its enormous wings and roared, splitting the skies with a concussive burst of power from the force of the roar alone which scattered the inhabitants in all directions. The screaming and alarms below caught its attention as its eyes finally began adjusting to the light of day for the first time in who knew how long.

"What do you call _this_ one?" Mark asked.

"Local legends call it, _Rodan_, the Fire Demon." Ilene replied.

"... Well _that's_ comforting." Mark replied sarcastically.

Rodan released another roar, catching all of their attention. But that's not all it did.

In the Atlantic Ocean, racing around the Northwestern tip of South America, Godzilla's head snapped up slightly. Hearing the call, Godzilla increased his speed, breached his head above water, and unleashed and earth-shattering roar which sent a concussive burst even larger than that Rodan had produced through the air.

Back at the mountain, Rodan sat and waited patiently. And then, it hit. The remnants of the concussive wave released by Godzilla arrived and struck Rodan's chest. The flying demon's head turned towards the source of the burst, and from his throat he began clicking and growling.

"Uh, guys! You know that storm where we lost Monster Zero? It's changing direction, and uh... Guess where it's headed?" Sam stated urgently.

"That's impossible! No storm can just turn and move that fast!" Rick retorted.

"Wait..." Ilene said, closing her eyes.

"What is it, Doctor Chen?" Doctor Graham asked.

A moment of silence passed.

"I don't think it's a storm." Ilene said at last.

"Serizawa, you got satellites up there, right? Have one of them take a picture of the center of that thing, now!" Mark ordered.

Serizawa nodded and picked up the phone. A moment later, following his call, he hung up and they waited.

"Got it! Bringing it up now!" Rick said.

On the main monitor emerged a picture of Monster Zero, partially hidden in the haze, at the center moving towards Rodan.

"No way..." Rick said in disbelief.

"We need time to finish the evacuation!" Serizawa ordered.

"Well, then you'd better hurry, cause it's closing in _fast_." Rick said.

"Serizawa. It's no coincidence that Monster Zero is heading this way. It's reacting to Big Bird's cries. That means it's either coming for a meal, or it's coming to settle a territorial disagreement." Mark said.

"What do you suggest?" Serizawa asked.

Rodan, meanwhile, was hit with another wave from the South. A second calling from Godzilla forced him to shake his head a bit and stop clicking. He unleashed another ear-splitting roar of his own sending a wave back. And a few seconds later, out to sea, Godzilla felt the call and increased his speed yet _again_. His spines split the water fast enough to produce a misty spray several hundred meters in length behind him as he continued to tear through the water.

Back at the volcano, the fighter jets escorting the Argo began circling around towards Rodan and unleashed a barrage of missiles into his chest and neck. Rodan roared in irritation as his eyes began trailing the fighters that raced past him. And then, he spied the Argo. His beak opened partially, and the brow-like ridge above his eyes dipped down in an unmistakable display of aggression.

"Oh, I think we got its attention!" Mark stated.

"Everyone, strap in. All ships, follow our lead." Foster ordered.

The Argo's main engines burst to life as it began a sharp turn away from Rodan who watched it like a hawk before spreading his wings and taking his first steps in millennia towards the edge of the volcano. And with a single beat of his mighty wings, he was airborne and gliding down towards the city below.

Due to his size and the pressure generated by his wings, Rodan's flight path above the city produced a trailing wave of hurricane-force wind escorted by searing heat from his bio-volcanic respiratory system. Wave after wave of explosions and bursts of buildings suddenly being torn apart by the air pressure rippled through the city. And all those unlucky enough to be caught directly beneath his path were sucked into the air and thrown for hundreds, if not thousands of meters from where they were first lifted. For some, death was swift and came as a result of the G Forces of the lift off. For others, it was a long way back to Earth.

The Argo burst through the clouds, aiming to seek temporary refuge from Rodan as they contacted the fighters.

"Argo to Gold Squadron! Let's lure this turkey away from the mainland and straight into the path of Monster Zero! ETA, two minutes!" Rick called.

"Gold Squadron, engage on our six." Foster added.

"Copy. Start the clock." Gold Squadron Leader replied.

The fighters all arced up and around, heading back towards Rodan who had appeared above the clouds about two miles behind them. As they launched the first wave of missiles at him, Rodan was struck and roared in challenge. As they approached a collision, Rodan flapped his wings downward, the wind force destroying two fighters, and propelling him skyward for hundreds of meters. Now far above his prey, he lined himself up...

"Bogey! Nine o'clock high!" A pilot shouted as Rodan began a dive.

Racing by and beneath the upper layer of fighters, he soared down at a rapid clip and grabbed hold of two fighters with his talons before biting the ships into oblivion. As he lifted his head, he was a bit too close to the water for comfort, and the tips of his wings grazed the water's surface as he angled them back to begin another ascent after the Argo.

"Duster 223! Get out of there! He's on your tail! Get out of there!" Foster called.

Beside Rodan was another chopper which began unloading a stream of gattling bullets into the side of his head. But they may as well have been fleas with the lack of attention Rodan gave them as he chased down Duster 223 with a gaping maw. The pilot ejected... Only to be caught in Rodan's mouth as their readings went flat-line.

"ETA to Monster Zero, sixty seconds!" Rick called.

"Raptor 37, bogey on your six! Watch it!" A pilot called.

Suddenly, Rodan began spinning in mid-air. His wings came around and slammed into each fighter jet caught within their enormous width. Explosion after explosion erupted in the air in a dazzling display of power, grace, and intellect as Rodan's flight path seemed to follow the gathered planes as they tried to escape. And at last, the last plane fell. Rodan's claws skimmed the surface of the ocean before he slammed his wings down and propelled himself skyward towards the now defenseless Argo.

"We lost the squadron! ETA to Monster Zero, thirty seconds!" Rick shouted.

"We won't make it in time!" Sam added.

"Shut up, Sam!" Ilene barked.

"Hang on everyone!" Foster ordered.

The Argo fired up its final wave of afterburners, reaching the top speed it was capable of reaching. But behind it, Rodan was catching up fast. Rising higher and higher, Rodan began a dive. And as he raced downward, the Argo arced upwards causing him to sail past. The pressure wave of his passing rocked the vessel, but they continued on towards Monster Zero as Rodan steadied himself.

And then, Rodan's head snapped towards the South away from the storm. With a flap of his wings, he veered off course and headed in that direction.

"Where's he going?!" Mark shouted.

"I don't know, but at least he's not-" Rick started.

He was stopped by a sudden surge of electricity striking the Argo, and as everyone's attention went forward, the enormous form of Monster Zero appeared in their field of view.

"DIVE! DIVE!" Foster shouted.

The Argo began descending rapidly as Monster Zero spotted Rodan and began a dive towards him. And with Rodan's attention fixated on something else, Monster Zero easily managed to catch up to and surprise him as his claws dug into Rodan's side resulting in a high pitched shriek of agony from the Fire Demon.

"Sensei. What happened? Why'd Rodan stop following us?" Doctor Graham asked.

Serizawa shook his head.

"Look!" Rick shouted, bringing up a satellite image on the screen of a blue flashing light in the ocean rapidly heading their way.

"Gojira da." Serizawa whispered with a slight smirk.

"All right! Big G's comin' to town Zero!" Rick shouted with a pumping fist.

"You think he's coming for Rodan, or Monster Zero?" Sam asked.

"Hopefully both." Rick said. "Hell, at this point I'm rooting for him to take out _all_ the other Titans so it's just him! Least we know he's gonna chill in the ocean away from humanity, right?" He added.

"Mark. What do you think?" Serizawa asked.

"Toasted Turkey over there looked towards where Godzilla's coming from just before veering off from the chase. I'm guessing Godzilla must have caught his attention somehow. Maybe a roar or a low pitch frequency that we can't hear, but it could feel. It's not uncommon in the animal kingdom. But as for whether he's coming to help or to take them both out... I don't know." Mark said.

Serizawa nodded as their attention was grabbed by the force of the Argo leveling out from its dive to escape Monster Zero.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Raptor One to Argo! Do you read?!" Barnes's voice came in on the radio.

"Copy, Raptor One. What's your status?" Foster replied.

"We're screwed! That's what! And we got civies on board! We're gonna need immediate mid-air retrieval!" Barnes relayed.

"Lock onto their position and prepare the hangar for emergency landing." Foster ordered.

"Hangar doors are unresponsive." Rick replied.

"Manual override?" She asked.

"They're _stuck_!" Rick retorted.

Mark groaned and got out of his seat, turning towards the back of the room.

"Which way's the hangar?" He asked.

"It's uh... That, um... I mean. I know the way." Sam stuttered.

"Hope you got a big wrench!" Rick called after them.

Meanwhile, Rodan fought for his life against the much larger Monster Zero. Having managed to shake off the first attack, Rodan circled around and prepared for a strike with his claws. But Monster Zero's superior leg length allows his claws to grapple Rodan's stomach and thigh first, pushing his lower body back as the two outer heads grabbed hold of his wings in their mouths while the third raced forward and bit into his shoulder.

Rodan screeched in pain, and began pecking desperately at the neck of the center head as best he could. Thankfully, the curvature of his beak allowed him to get some good digs in, and the previously pristine golden hue started leaking a dark reddish-brown fluid as the center head let go and shook off the pain. Rodan then turned his head and shrieked at the left head as loudly as he could, sending an air pressure wave straight into it which immediately forced it to let go. With ears ringing and its thoughts scrambled, the head shook violently trying to regain its senses as Rodan turned the other way and rammed his beak into the base of the jaw of the right head.

Spurting reddish-brown blood, the right head let go with a cry of pain as Monster Zero's feet let go of Rodan's body.

Flapping his wings to propel himself upward, he turned quickly and began a dive bomb onto the back of Monster Zero, latching onto the musculature inbetween his wings with talons sinking deep into his flesh. Monster Zero's three heads shrieked in agony as more reddish-brown blood spurt free of its body, and all three turned 180 degrees and snarled at Rodan who snarled and roared back in defiance.

Back at the Argo, Mark and Sam reached the hangar.

"What's wrong!?" Mark shouted.

"Hydraulics systems are jammed! I'm trying to jump-start power, but it's not looking good!" A soldier said.

Back on the bridge, a beeping alert came over the comms.

"It's Admiral Stenz." Rick said, obviously disheartened.

Stenz's face appeared on the main screen.

"Amdiral!" Serizawa said.

"Doctor Serizawa, Colonel Foster. I need you and your forces to immediately disengage and withdraw to a safe distance." Stenz ordered.

"Admiral. I don't understand." Foster replied.

"We've been developing a prototype for a new weapon, code named the Oxygen Destroyer. It does exactly what its name implies by activating a deadly chemical reaction in the air and in the water which destabilizes and destroys all oxygen molecules within a two mile radius of the blast site. And since all life forms in this world need oxygen in one form or another, with any luck it will kill these things and this nightmare will finally be over." He stated.

"Admiral. We must keep our faith in Gojira." Serizawa begged.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. But you had your chance. The missile is already on its way... May God have mercy on us all. Stenz out." He said, cutting the feed.

"... He's not lying." Foster said, looking at their monitors tracking the inbound missile. "It's coming in hot."

"Argo, you gotta get those bay doors open, _now_! Have the crash and fire crews ready!" Martinez shouted.

On board the Argo in the hangar, Mark spied a weakly attached osprey dangling above the bay doors. Looking down, he spied the button to release it, and pressed it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The soldier manning the station shouted.

With a pull of the final release lever, the osprey fell through the bay doors, forcing them open. The falling osprey just _barely_ missed the oncoming Raptor One chopper, which began its ascent and prepared for an emergency crash landing inside the hangar. Everyone inside, meanwhile, scrambled for the exits as the chopper raced forward.

Finally, the moment of truth. The chopper entered the hangar and crashed into the railing. The chopper spun and twisted around and around, its blades being smashed off by anything and everything in their way with enough durability to withstand and push back. But at last it came to a stop. And miraculously, nobody was seriously injured. A few people had been roughed up or scared shitless, but they were alive.

Outside, things weren't going so well.

Rodan, despite his best and most heroic efforts, was outclassed. Monster Zero's three heads were all clamped around his throat and dragging his back against the surface of the ocean. Small red rivers ran from Rodan's throat as he choked and gagged, fighting desperately for breath.

Finally, Monster Zero unleashed his lighting blasts into Rodan's body, throwing him down into the water with tremendous force. Upon impact, steam erupted in massive walls clouding Monster Zero as he flapped his wings to remain in place and watch as Rodan's body sank into the gloom.

However... The right head, distracted by a familiar sound, looked out towards the open sea and spotted the Argo.


	14. A Queen Emerges

**Chapter 13**: A Queen Emerges

The heavens shook violently as the Argo succumbed to a pressure wave generated by the flap of Monster Zero's mighty wings. A single flap was all it took to propel the leviathan forward towards the Argo, as its now only enemy in the skies. Each subsequqnet flat, as its body neared the water, beat the ocean back as if it were scared to make contact with the beast. And as Mark and the others watched the coming of this ancient wickedness, they couldn't help but feel in their hearts that the end had come.

"... Oh God..." Mark whispered.

However, just as Monster Zero reached the Argo and was about to destroy it in its powerful jaws, a familiar roar was heard as Godzilla breached out of the water like a giant whale grabbing the right head's neck in his jaws and dragging Monster Zero down into the ocean.

Mark's face shifted from acceptance to shock as he was pulled back by one of the soldiers before he would have inevitably slid out of the Argo's open bay doors to his death. Now in safety, they all retreated to the bridge as the Argo flew away at top speed while continuing to track the oncoming Oxygen Destroyer.

Down in the waters below, Monster Zero's massive wings proved to be his greatest disadvantage. With such massive surface area they generated so much drag it was almost impossible to move them through the water at all. Godzilla, meanwhile, cut through the water like butter, circling Monster Zero and grappling with him while keeping him under like a crocodile does its hapless victims. As the Argo began to retreat in earnest, they looked back at the disturbance in the water to see Godzilla's spines cutting the surface and continuing to circle forward like a series of shark fins in a feeding frenzy.

"We're gettin' outta here. The military's weapon is getting close." Rick said.

"Well, it's not the _worst_ news I've heard today." Mark replied.

In the water, Godzilla continued circling and dragging Monster Zero down, down, down into the depths while pulling hard against the right-most head's neck now caught in his jaws.

"Oxygen Destroyer incoming, and we just cleared the blast zone." Rick announced.

"How long till it hits?" Foster asked.

"Ten more seconds." Rick replied.

Godzilla's circling and tugging finally pushed the right-most head to its limit, and as Godzilla gripped the neck with his powerful claws and yanked hard to the left, the head snapped off in his jaws and instantly went limp with brown-red blood pouring profusely from the wounds as a light high in the sky began to grow brighter and brighter.

"Five... Four... Three... Two... One..."

The missile pierced the water's surface, and a muffled explosion followed by a massive orb of green light erupted from the gloom and illuminated the sky as if it were the sun. For several long seconds, the sound was sapped from the world. And as the light faded, a massive mushroom cloud appeared over the blast zone in the water. This was all followed by a massive concussive shock wave which shook the Argo violently in the skies beyond.

Once the Argo had settled, all went quiet.

Down in the waters below, fish began floating belly up by the hundreds of thousands. And the ocean had gone still as stone.

"Holy mother of God..." Rick whispered as the feeds came through.

Serizawa and the others all shared in their shock at just how quiet the world had become.

But suddenly, from beneath the water, a large dark shape began to grow. Everyone leaned forward towards the feed, hearts racing, as the shape grew larger and larger. However...

Bursting free of the dead ocean was Monster Zero. Breaking the surface, his wings finally gained the lift needed to propel him up and out of the water and into the air he called home as his two remaining heads roared with a mixture of determination and pain from the battle.

"Doctor Stanton. Can you locate Gojira?!" Serizawa demanded.

"... Yeah, I got something." Rick replied.

Godzilla's heart rate played through the speakers as the signals came through.

"His... His vitals are fading. Radiation levels plummeting." He said, his voice lower and less lively than before.

The pulse of Godzilla's heart slowed with each successive beat, and the sounds the microphones picked up of his weakened growls also began to fade.

"Come on, big guy. Fight it!" Rick urged quietly.

One final beat, and Godzilla's heart went still followed by the ring of the flat-line reading. Rick took off his headphones, turning towards the others as he silently shook his head.

Serizawa's head lowered and his stability faltered as he nearly toppled over in disbelief. Doctor Graham put a hand on his back to stabilize him, helping him to a chair as he leaned back and removed his glasses. Ilene moved closer to him as well, putting her hands on one of his to offer whatever comfort she could as he fought to regain his breath.

Mark stared at the flat-line reading, but as he did so he didn't feel the satisfaction he'd thought he would for these last five years. Instead, it was more a feeling of... Defeat.

"Looks like you got your wish, Mark." Serizawa finally said, still struggling to breathe properly.

"Sensei, let's go. You need to get some rest." Doctor Graham stated as she took one arm and Ilene took the other to help walk him to his quarters.

Mark looked back to the monitor with Godzilla's flat-line vitals, and he felt his stomach drop as a wave of confusion and nausea overtook him.

All around him, everyone's faces had darkened. The light of the world outside had dimmed as the sun began to set. And the world itself seemed to cry as a rainstorm began gathering in the skies all around the Argo, pelting its windows and forward view pane with droplets of water.

Monster Zero, meanwhile, landed on the Isla de Mara volcano, now gushing lava down its slopes. As it did so, the center head looked at the right stump and noticed a thin, plastic-like covering with _something _happening beneath it. Something wriggling. Growing. Like a tongue flipping and lashing out in all directions. Biting the cover and tearing it away, the sickening sight of Monster Zero's right-most head regrowing by the second filled the Argo's monitor feeds. Several on the vessel covered their mouths or looked away, until at last the head regrew completely and joined the other two in a roar of unified triumph to the heavens above.

As the call reverberated throughout the world, the Titans, all previously slumbering or in suspended animation, began to awaken together. At Outpost 55 in Sedona, Arizona, the legs of an arachnid-like Titan erupted from the ground in an oil field. At Outpost 67, in Munich, Germany, what was once thought to be a mountain burst to life shaking off hundreds of tons of rubble as a massive white eye snapped open. At Outpost 75 in the Sudan, the facility was shaken by an unseen creature in the smokey haze.

In the bunker, a few thousand miles away, Emma and Jonah looked on as Monster Zero continued roaring with Rodan appearing in the skies high above and circling like a hawk waiting for the right moment to strike.

"I thought we were going to release them gradually. One at a time." Jonah said, looking at Emma out of the corner of his eye.

Emma, in response, shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm not the one doing this," she whispered back.

Jonah looked at the monitors again as Rodan, surprisingly, landed beneath Monster Zero and seemed to bow in submission.

"... Long live the _King_." Jonah proclaimed, walking to his quarters as Emma stared in wonder and horror.

Meanwhile, back on the Argo...

Mark was seated at a computer wracking his brain and trying to figure out the Orca's main frequency which she'd used to awaken Rodan and Monster Zero.

"Any luck?" Ilene asked from her computer just behind him.

"No. Whatever Emma used to create the Orca signal, I've never heard it before." He admitted. "How are _you_ doing?" He asked.

She replied with something spoken in Mandarin.

"How's that?" Mark asked.

"_Myth is our compass._" She translated. "It's something my mom used to say. She believed our stories about monsters and dragons could help us find the Titans and restore our connection to nature."

"Wait, your mother? You're second generation, MONARCH?" He asked.

"Third," she said with a smile. "It runs in the family." She said, showing pictures of past generations, even those before MONARCH had formed, with each group having twin girls side by side.

"That's incredible. I don't suppose your family has any tips on slaying dragons, do they?" He asked.

"Slaying dragons is a western concept. In the East, they are sacred. Divine creatures who brought wisdom, strength... Even redemption." She said, still smiling and looking up at him over her shoulder.

He couldn't help but smile a little in return.

Suddenly, she gasped and half stood up out of her chair.

"Whoa, whoa. What is it?" Mark asked.

She took a deep breath and slowly sat down.

"You okay?" He asked.

She nodded, holding up a hand to silence him as she slowly closed her eyes.

Meanwhile, back in China where Mothra had cocooned herself beneath the waterfall, something was happening.

"Castle Bravo, this is Containment Team Mosura, do you read? Over?" The pilot of a MONARCH chopper asked.

"Anything?" Came a voice in the camp.

"Doctor Brooks. We've lost contact with the Argo, Castle Bravo, and all other containment sites." Another aid told him. "Angkor Wat, Skull Island, Stone Mountain. All the Titans. they're escaping."

Doctor Brooks walked around and looked at the screens intently.

"Wait, wait, wait. It's... It's _him_." He said, pointing to Monster Zero. "_He's_ the one doing this. They're responding to _his_ call." He said.

Suddenly, thunder crashed in the skies and the earth trembled beneath their feet.

"Hey. Where's Doctor Ling?" Brooks asked.

"She's outside." The aid replied.

Coming out of the tent, Brooks scanned for Doctor Ling and spotted her at the edge of the containment barrier staring intently at the waterfall.

"Doctor Ling! We've lost contact with MONARCH!... Doctor Ling?!" He called.

She would not move.

Back on the Argo, Ilene's eye lids fluttered slightly as Mark continued to wait patiently for whatever she wanted to say or do.

Back in China, the cocoon, just barely visible behind the waterfall, began uttering a clicking sound as a soft blue light began pulsing within. Brooks looked up, cleaning off his glasses, and the rest of the MONARCH staff all gathered around the platform watching the waterfall. And then, amidst the clicking and the pulsing light, a single long, sharp tendril emerged and stretched forward out of the waterfall accompanied by a soft screech.

Electricity began going haywire as lights and devices started to short out.

However, rather than panic, all the MONARCH staff began to... relax. They couldn't put their finger on why. They should be panicking right now. Running for cover. Mothra was about to hatch from her cocoon. A Titan was about to emerge from the waterfall and potentially attack their base! And yet... They couldn't help but all remain calm and stare at the waterfall.

Back on the Argo, Ilene's lips curled into a faint smile as the sounds of music entered her mind.

But not just her mind. Everyone at the China containment facility could hear it. Soft, tribal music accompanied by soothing vocals of a beautiful melody resonating within their bodies and putting their minds and souls alike at peace.

A blue eye flashed from behind the water, and the form of a large insect began to emerge from the top of the cocoon behind the falls and crawl down towards the base. Her shadow, backlit by the light pulsing within the cocoon which still held the majority of her emerging wings, crawled lower and lower towards them as the music swelled. Doctor Ling removed her hood, a perfect twin to her sister Ilene on the Argo, looked up in wonder as a tear of joy ran down her smiling face.

She was the first in her family for potentially dozens of generations to actually _see_ the beautiful form of Mothra in all of her majestic glory. And as Mothra spread her wings beneath the falls, illuminating them from base to tip, she released a shriek and spread her front arms announcing her arrival to the world.


	15. The One Who Is Many

**Chapter 14**: The One Who Is Many

"This Oxygen Destroyer. Why wasn't Monster Zero affected by it?" Foster asked.

"I mean I'm no scientist, but I bet it has somethin' to do with his friggin' head growin' back!" Barnes stated.

"Well I've never seen anything like it. It violates everything we know about the laws of nature." Rick said.

"Agreed. Nothing on this planet has ever had such powerful regenerative properties. Not even Godzilla." Doctor Graham added.

Ilene, who had been sitting with Mark after their chat, looked to the side as a thought crossed her mind. She rolled her chair a bit closer to her station, and inserted an external drive to the computer with her family's personal files.

Generation after generation in her family had compiled information from throughout the millennia since the Titans appeared, and as such she hadn't seen everything yet. But she knew there had to be _something_ about this Monster Zero in those files. One of her ancestors _must_ have known something.

"So hold on. Wait a minute. Is he a _new_ species, maybe?" Barnes asked.

"No, he can't be that new. Not with how old the samples we took from him in the ice were." Rick retorted.

"And how old were they?" Barnes asked.

"Tens of thousands of years old. And those are only the samples we were able to preserve." Rick added.

"Damn. So he's been around." Barnes said.

"There must be something in our records. Doctor Graham. Please check again." Serizawa asked.

"Of course." She said, going to a station and looking through MONARCH's files.

Mark, meanwhile, stayed near Ilene as she combed through files she'd never opened before, scanning sub-folder after sub-folder with eyes wide open so as not to miss a single folder name or clue they might be hiding.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked.

"These are my family's private records. MONARCH agreed to leave some things private for us... But sometimes even family keeps things from each other." She said as she opened one particular file about the day her village was attacked during her childhood.

She paused an instant before moving to another folder.

"So his head regrowin'. Is that like a lizard thing?" Barnes asked.

"No. Lizards can regrow their tails or sometimes even lost limbs. But a head? That's just not possible." Rick countered.

"Even Godzilla, as far as we know, has limits to his healing. Durable as he is, his brain is a central component of his healing factor. Damage his brain, and his ability to heal goes with it." Sam added.

"So how do we kill this thing? Chop off all its heads?" Barnes asked.

"No, idiot. We blow it to kingdom come. How are we supposed to know how to kill that thing?" Martinez asked with irritated sarcasm.

"I wasn't talkin' to _you_, Martinez. I was talkin' to the scientists who know better." Barnes barked back.

"Oh, what? You think I don't know at least a _little_ about this subject? I was a biology major in college you know!" Martinez jabbed back.

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down!" Rick snapped.

"Hey, I'm a soldier! If I dunno what I'm fighting or how to kill it, how'm I gonna do my job?" Barnes asked.

"Just sit tight for a bit and let us discuss this. If we put our heads together I'm sure we'll figure out what the hell's going on sooner or later." Sam tried to say calmly, hoping to diffuse the situation.

"That is if there's still a world left after this "_later_" that you're talking about." Rick said sarcastically.

Ilene continued diving through her records until she found something. An unnamed folder with a single document inside it, also unnamed. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she opened the file. Inside was a single image, and one line of text to accompany it.

The image was that of Monster Zero. A three-headed gilded dragon. He was at the top of the image, surrounded by a hail of meteors. And below him... Was the curvature and surface of the Earth with tiny human figures drawn on it. Ilene's jaw went slack as she read the text.

_Ghidorah... The Cosmic Devil, and the One Who is Many._

After a few seconds, something happened. The file automatically opened a previously hidden and encrypted file which had been coded to remain invisible until this file had been opened. Clicking on it, Ilene was met by a code wall. She heaved a breath and cracked her fingers as she began decrypting the file. And after a few moments, she was in.

The file opened and revealed document after document of paintings and stories all about this Ghidorah. Some of them would have to be translated. Others were already translated. And of those which were already translated, one of them came with an image of Godzilla facing Ghidorah with humans battling on both sides. But what was most disturbing was the text beside the image.

And as she read, the sounds of the arguing behind her began to fade to nothing.

_The day the Devil fell to Earth, the heavens fell with him. A hail of stars destroyed the land for miles, heralding the coming of death incarnate._

_Its name is Ghidorah. The One Who Is Many._

_We few who survived prayed to our Gods for salvation. But salvation would not come. The Devil's might proved far too great. One after another the Gods fell to his unholy powers over lightning and thunder. As he flew the skies he created a tempest which swallowed the world, man, and God alike... He cannot be stopped._

Mark leaned in, his face beside hers.

"What the... _fuck_?" He asked quietly.

Ilene breathed heavily as another file opened on its own, just like the first. But this one didn't need to be cracked.

... It was a prayer written by none other than Ilene's mother, dated shortly before Ilene and Ling's birth.

_O heavenly Mother, whose wings shall shine bright as the sun. Please, hear my call, and accept my sincerest love and reverence. The Cosmic Devil sleeps in ice, ready to awaken and destroy this world. __**Your**__ world. His power is great. Such that he may turn your most beloved family against you. Please, be careful. For his call is poison to the world._

Ilene was speechless as she sat back in her chair for a moment. Mark put his hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to snap out of her stupor. A gentle squeeze brought her back, and she put her hand on his before offering him a small smile.

Then, she turned to the others, who were still in the middle of arguing.

"Everyone, shut up!" She yelled.

The room went silent, looking at her.

"... Sorry. Please, come here. You have to see this!" She said, sitting down and projecting her screen so they could all read with her.

"I just found this hidden and encrypted in my family's personal database. It gives a name to Monster Zero, and... It tells us more about where he comes from." She said quietly.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Does that picture mean what I think it means?" Rick asked.

"Read the text, Rick. This _Ghidorah_, as they call it, fell to Earth from the heavens, bringing the heavens with him. I'm betting those stars were meteors, which would explain the fragment we found on him during our initial attempts at gathering samples." Sam said.

"I can't believe it." Doctor Graham said in horror.

"Yes. It's hard to believe for me as well. But it's all here. Ghidorah fell from the stars. A Devil. The incarnate of death. Like we saw earlier, when he flies, he generates a storm that follows him everywhere." Ilene said.

"That could wreak havoc on our natural weather patterns and even potentially change climates across the world!" Serizawa stated in shock.

Ilene nodded.

"Yes... Ghidorah is not part of our natural order, which would also explain how he regrew his head so quickly." She said.

"Wait a sec. So you're telling me... That the aliens I've been waiting my entire life to meet... Are _this _Ghidorah fella?" Rick asked.

Ilene only looked at him over her shoulder.

"Well... Shit." Rick said as he went back to his chair and started rummaging around beneath his desk.

"So he's an alien. That what you're tellin' me?" Barnes asked.

Ilene nodded.

"Dayum... I mean _dayum_!" He said.

"Not what you expected?" Martinez asked.

"Nah, man. I was expecting those little gray balloon head guys with big shiny eyeballs." Barnes replied.

Martinez rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Doctor, we're approaching Castle Bravo. But, there's something you should see." Foster said to Serizawa.

He joined Foster at the main viewing window, and all around Castle Bravo were dozens of military vessels.

"I don't suppose you were_ expecting_ a welcoming party?" Mark asked almost playfully.

Inside Castle Bravo's meeting room, Admiral Stenz began his debrief.

"Moscow, London, Washington D.C. All under attack. On every continent the Titans are triggering earthquakes, wildfires, tsunamis, and other disasters we don't even have names for yet. As before, we've been trying to lure them away with nuclear materials. But, they aren't taking the bait this time. Their behavior has become random... Erratic. And with our forces now spread desperately thin and these things roaming the globe unimpeded, we are running out of options... And time."

As Stenz spoke, Ilene looked at Mark and walked up close to whisper to him.

"Excuse me? Do you have something to add?" Stenz asked the pair.

"Yes. We believe you're wrong." Ilene said. "Their behavior is not random, or erratic." She added.

"If I may, sir. As amazing as this sounds, they're all moving like a pack. _Hunting_, as it were. And all packs, from wolves to killer whales. They all respond directly to an Alpha." Mark added.

"The Alpha _used_ to be Godzilla. But with what we've discovered about Ghidorah's origins, being cosmic in nature, everything we thought we knew before now has to be totally re-evaluated." Ilene said.

"Doctor Chen's family found a text which translated that Ghidorah has a call that's "_poison to the world_." And a prayer from her mother suggests that he can turn the Titans to his will. Whatever this call is that he's emitting?... That's what's causing this. The Titans are all being bent to his will. They've become extensions of _him_." Mark added.

"So what are you telling me?" Stenz asked.

"That this Ghidorah is an alien life form. And that he's here to subjugate and or destroy this world. And he's going to use the Titans to do it." Mark said.

"A _false_ King forcing others to do his work for him." Serizawa concluded.

"If we stop Ghidorah, we stop them all." Mark finished.

"Is there another creature that might stand a chance against him?" Foster asked.

"Not anymore. Ghidorah and Gojira's rivalry was ancient and unique." Serizawa stated.

"Right, so we killed our best shot at beating this thing?" A soldier asked.

Mark looked to the soldier incredulously for a moment before a wave of nausea hit his stomach again, and he wandered off towards a nearby table to sit down and steady himself. Ilene, noticing this, walked over and put her hands on his shoulders.

"You all right?" She asked softly.

Mark nodded.

"Yeah. I just need a minute." He whispered back with a half-smile.

She nodded quietly, letting go of his shoulders before rejoining the others.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the MONARCH bunker...

"Jonah, you don't get it. This changes _everything_!" Emma stated. "With Godzilla gone, Monster Zero isn't using the Titans to restore the planet. He's using them to destroy it." She added.

"And what would you have me do?" He asked.

"This isn't coexistence, Jonah. This is extinction."

"You expected the end result to be simple, I take it?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" She inquired in return.

"This might not be the ideal outcome _you_ had in mind. But if Monster Zero is able to wipe out humanity and give the Earth back to the Titans and nature, then we've done our job." He replied.

"But Jonah. Coexistence was our goal." She insisted.

"No. It was _your_ goal." He said, turning and walking away a few steps.

"... What are you talking about? We had an agreement about the endgame of this venture." She said.

"No. We had an agreement about the fact that we both wanted to save the world by helping the earth fight the infection that is humanity. But I never agreed with you about _anything_ that's more personal, such as _why_ I want nature and the Titans to take this world back." He growled, pointing a finger at her and advancing towards her once again.

Emma backed against the wall as he closed the distance and got right up in her face.

"Sometimes, to do what's right you need to get your hands dirty. We opened Pandora's Box when we released Monster Zero, and there's no stopping it now. But I seem to recall you insisting that this world always belonged to the Titans. So maybe it's time we gave it back. Hmm?" He insisted.

Emma slowly shook her head.

"We all have a place here. Humans and Titans alike. Yes, we need to make changes. But not like _this_. There has to be a way to stop Monster Zero and help humanity and Titans coexist."

"I'm sorry, doctor. But there's no such solution anymore. Maybe before the government and military killed off Godzilla we had a chance. But with him gone, Monster Zero has no more natural enemies who stand even the slightest chance at killing him. He's the best tool this planet has to heal now, like it or not."

"When did you get this way, Jonah?" She asked.

"What way?"

"You're telling me, with full honesty to my face, that you believe Monster Zero is the world's best chance for survival now? With what he's making the Titans do all over the world? Just look at the screens! The Titans are being _used_, Jonah. _Used_! That's not coexistence! That's slavery! And what do you think he'll do with them when he's done?!"

"I don't care!" Jonah yelled, silencing Emma.

"I don't bloody care what he does with the Titans. So long as he rids this world of the infection that is humanity, I'll consider my mission a success!" He said, storming away down the halls.

Emma let out a held breath, slumping down to the floor.


	16. Catharsis, A King Yet Lives

**Chapter 15**: Catharsis, A King Yet Lives!

Back inside Castle Bravo's war room, Admiral Stenz held a private conversation with Colonel Foster while Mark and the others waited nearby.

"Stenz is really stubborn." Rick whispered.

"_Admiral_ Stenz, Rick. Show the proper respect." Serizawa replied firmly.

"Sorry. Admiral Stenz." Rick repeated.

Serizawa shifted his weight in his chair, still slouching slightly as he glanced to the flatline reading of Godzilla's life signs. In another chair not far away sat Mark, elbows on his knees, hunched forward, fingers interlaced between his knees, and deep in thought. Ilene sat next to him, occasionally glancing between him and Serizawa. Meanwhile Doctor Graham sat beside Serizawa, trying in vain to cheer him up.

"Heh." Rick chuckled.

Mark glanced to him.

"Something funny?" He asked.

"Nah. Not really." Rick replied, digging around by his feet.

"What was the chuckle for?"

"That thing, Ghidorah. It's driving the Titans to destroy us. The big guy's gone. And we still don't have the Orca." Rick said, finally seeming to get what he was after as a smile crept on his face.

"Given that the world's going to Hell, I figured now was as good a time as any to bust these out. Originally I was saving them for when the big guy kicked Ghidorah's ass. But now... Well, whaddya say? Want a beer?" He asked, holding a fresh bottle out towards Mark.

Ilene glanced slowly to Mark, her lips parting ever so slightly.

Mark's heart skipped a beat. He felt a lump gather in his throat. His hands gripped one another tightly, and a bead of sweat slowly floated down from his temple and dripped to the floor below.

His heart beat pounded in his ears like a thundering war drum as he looked at the bottle with longing. Slowly, his left hand unlaced the fingers from the right and started gliding towards the bottle. But then it stopped. Mark's jaw hung slightly agape as he fought for breath and swallowed the lump in his throat. Clenching the hand into a fist, he brought it back to rest on his thigh.

"I'm good." He said, his voice laced with pain.

"You sure, man? You look like you could really use-" Rick began.

"I'm good!" Mark yelled, standing to his feet.

"Whoa, whoa. Sorry!" Rick stuttered.

Mark took a few deep breaths and nodded.

"... Sorry about that." He whispered.

"Yeah, no problem. Well, bottom's up!" Rick said, popping the bottle cap and chugging the beverage.

Mark placed his hands on the main table monitor and breathed as Ilene slowly walked over and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you all right?" She asked softly.

He nodded.

"If you don't mind, what was that about?" She whispered.

Mark slowly glanced over at her. The sight of his eyes beginning to shimmer with moisture and his tight, pushed up lips made her heart sink.

"I guess I never told you or the others, did I? That I became an alcoholic after San Francisco?" He whispered.

She slowly shook her head as her gentle grip on his jacket tightened slightly.

"Well... I was." He said, sniffing back a sob.

His tears slowly leaked from the corners of his eyes as his hands clenched tighter.

"After we moved back to Boston, I had no other outlet. I couldn't focus on studying animals because every time I saw one I was reminded of how much Andrew loved them. He always had to have the latest National Geographic magazine, or record the latest animal documentary airing on tv." He continued, chuckling through a few sobs as his breaths grew more ragged.

"He loved nature so much... Maybe even more than me." He sobbed, dipping his head as his tears gathered on the monitor screen between his hands.

Ilene's hand gently rested on top of his clenched fist, and his hand flattened out in response to her touch.

"It's not your fault, Mark." She whispered.

He couldn't respond to her through his sobs. Every time he tried to reply his voice got caught in a hitched breath before he lost himself to his grief once again and continued sobbing. In response, Ilene gently rested her head against his shoulder and used her other hand to rub his back which seemed to have something of a positive effect as his sobs began to at least come more under control.

"It's not your fault," she repeated quietly.

"Andrew sounds like he was a good boy. Full of life and love for this planet... You must be so proud of the young man he was becoming." She whispered.

He nodded fervently.

"I was." He gasped through another sob.

"I was proud... So proud... And so was Maddie... And Emma... We all were." He continued.

She nodded.

"Do you think your son would blame you for what happened? That he would blame any of this on you?" She asked.

He shook his head, a silent "I don't know."

"I don't think he would. And do you know why?" She asked as she leaned down, offering him a smile.

"I think Andrew loved you very much, Mark. And a family's love transcends all boundaries the human mind is capable producing." She whispered, taking her hand off of his on the table and reaching around to place it over his heart.

"He's still with you, Mark." She whispered.

Suddenly, the sound of a glass shattering behind them made both of them turn around. Rick had knocked the first bottle he'd finished to the ground.

"Oops! Uh... My bad! Sorry!" He announced to numerous irritated faces.

As Rick began chugging the next bottle, Ilene shook her head and looked at Mark who was now transfixed on the sight of Rick drinking.

"Mark?" She asked, gently tugging his jacket.

Mark watched Rick drinking, drinking, drinking... And finally, Mark blinked and was standing in his home in Boston. Over by the fridge in his kitchen, there he was. Behind him were five empty bottles of beer, with a sixth one now at his lips as he stumbled about the kitchen. And that's when Emma arrived.

"Mark! Please! You've had enough for today!" She shouted, trying desperately to make him drop the bottle.

Mark yelled in anger and, as Emma tried to hold his arm, threw her backwards against the wall so she struck her head on the edge of the cabinet. The blow immediately produced a small stream of blood from the back of her head, which she tried to stop by putting pressure on it.

"Dun tae mah dring, Emma!" He stammered drunkenly.

Emma looked over to the side, and placed her free hand over her mouth as her eyes went wide. Mark followed her gaze, and there was Maddie staring up at him with wide eyes and jaw hanging open. A deer caught in the headlights.

His baby girl was... Scared of him. His beautiful, happy, baby girl.

"Maddie?" He asked.

Maddie turned, and in slow motion disappeared as everything faded to black...

... Mark's eyes opened, and he finally noticed Ilene asking if he was all right. He looked at her and gave a few brief nods, sniffling back a sob as he looked over at the flat line reading of Godzilla's vitals on another monitor. As he took his first step towards it, Ilene seemed to realize what was happening as she let go of his jacket and gave him space. Step after step resounded in his head as if they were the only sounds in the world. And at last he arrived at the monitor, placing his hand on top of it as his lips tightened and spread while he fought back more sobs.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered, sniffing back another sob.

"You didn't tear my family apart... _I_ did." He admitted at last.

Serizawa looked over at Mark from his chair, and slowly stood up. Mark, meanwhile, continued to sob as his hand gripped the top of the monitor more tightly causing the screen to fluctuate in color under his thumb.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry Godzilla." He repeated.

"Your fight with the MUTOs took my son... But my drinking drove my wife and daughter away!" He said through gasped sobs.

"I'm so sorry." He repeated once again, gripping the monitor with both hands as he slumped to his knees and cried against the table.

Ilene's eyes welled up as she slowly walked up behind him, a soft, quiet smile on her face. Serizawa as well couldn't help but begin to tear up as he walked towards Mark, followed by Doctor Graham and Sam while Rick continued drinking in the background. They all gave him space, but gathered around smiling to one another as they waited patiently for him to finish.

Several long minutes later, Mark stood up and wiped his face of the tears.

"Mark." Serizawa whispered.

Mark turned to look at him, and Serizawa extended a hand. After a moment of pause, Mark shook Serizawa's hand.

"Thank you, my friend." Serizawa whispered, his first tears finally leaking free as he embraced Mark in a hug.

Mark returned the embrace, nodding several times as he repeated the words "I'm sorry" over and over again. Serizawa supported him as his legs began to grow weak again, and the others all came forward and rubbed his hands and his back while telling him it was all right. That if he were still alive and if he could communicate freely with humans, Godzilla would forgive him. That thought brought what was almost inarguably the first real smile he'd worn in a long, long time.

Finally, he stepped away from them.

"Sorry." He sniffed, wiping his nose.

"It's all right, Mark." Serizawa affirmed.

"Yes. It's all right." Graham repeated.

"Are you okay?" Ilene asked, taking his hand in hers.

Mark nodded, still smiling even though it was clear he was emotionally exhausted.

"I'm okay." He replied.

"So uh... Do you still hate Godzilla?" Sam asked.

Doctor Graham gave his shoulder a little smack, but Mark only chuckled.

"No... How could I? He didn't put my family where we are now. Humans did." Mark replied.

Serizawa nodded once, firmly, and took a step towards him.

"So what's next for you, Mark?" He asked.

Mark slowly shook his head. He looked over towards Stenz and Foster, who were still discussing something out of earshot.

"Whatever they plan to do seems like it's going to take a while... I can't just wait here anymore." He said, looking at Serizawa.

"I need to find them, Serizawa." He insisted.

Serizawa nodded slowly.

"Good luck, Mark. And stay safe." He said, giving Mark another hand shake.

Doctor Graham and Sam both shook his hand as well, but Ilene continued holding his other hand refusing to let go.

"I'll go with you." She said firmly.

Mark was about to speak, but she put a hand up to his lips to silence him.

"No arguing." She said, a mischievous smile appearing on her lips.

Mark chuckled and nodded.

"All right." He replied.

He wasn't sure what it was about Ilene, but he was happy she was with him. Something about her presence calmed him down. And the soft feeling of her hand wasn't bad either.

A few minutes later, Mark and Ilene boarded a chopper preparing to take off for the mainland when Ilene suddenly sat up straight and looked outside.

"What is it?" Mark asked.

Ilene didn't reply. Instead, she unbuckled her safety belt and hopped out of the chopper with Mark close behind.

"Hey! We need to go!" He shouted above the rain.

Ilene looked up towards the sky and removed her hood. And as the rain pelted her face, she felt the temperature of the air increasing.

"Ilene?" Mark asked, standing right beside her.

He couldn't hear her above the roar of the wind and rain, but he was able to read her lips as she told him to "look." He followed her gaze, and he started seeing a light shine through the rain clouds towards the horizon. At first he thought it was a simple break in the clouds and that they were seeing the sun beginning to set. But... The sun doesn't set _upwards_. The light moved higher and higher from the low horizon to almost 45 degrees up from their position. And as it did so it grew stronger and stronger until Mark had to shield his eyes.

Ilene closed her eyes calmly, smiling ear to ear and taking deep breaths as her heart rate increased rapidly.

Music filled their minds, drowning the sound of the falling rain. Mark looked at Ilene and saw her excitement building, and finally he heard a loud shriek from above as the clouds were literally blown away by the mighty wings of Mothra. Her body shone bright as the sun, turning an early evening sky into that of the dawn as her wing beats blew away all traces of the gathered storm clouds. The skies around her grew quiet and still, and only the sounds of music and her flapping wings as she hovered above the water could be heard.

Inside Castle Bravo Facility, watching the main monitors, everyone was brought to awe and wonder by the sight.

"Beautiful." Serizawa whispered.

Ilene and Mark rushed back down to the others, joining them as everyone continued to stare in wonder.

"What's happening?" Doctor Graham asked of Ilene.

Ilene only smiled.

"She's singing." She replied simply.

"Singing?" Graham asked.

Ilene nodded.

"Just listen." She said.

Everyone went quiet as they listened to the audio feeds. And sure enough, Mothra's calls echoed and flowed very much like a song. Each call carried a slightly different pitch, length, and melodic arc.

"Wait..." Mark said, listening a bit closer.

"What is it?" Serizawa asked.

"She's not just singing... She's communicating." Mark said.

"How do you know?" Graham asked.

"I've listened to numerous species communicate with one another, and I know a communicative call when I hear one." Mark said confidently. "And I'll bet there's only _one_ creature in this world who can understand that call." He continued.

"... Gojira da!" Serizawa exclaimed.

"Rick!" Mark shouted.

"Yeah! Yeah! Gimme a sec!" Rick said, fumbling at his station and pushing two empty beer bottles out of his way.

"... Yep! I got it! It's weak, but I'm picking up a response! I'll sync it to the audio feed!" He said.

A moment later, a long, agonized cry from Godzilla reverberated through the room.

"He's still alive!" Ilene whispered happily.

"Can you track him?!" Serizawa asked frantically.

"No. The signal's too weak... But maybe _she_ can." Rick said, gesturing to Mothra on the screen.

"Serizawa. How many nukes do we have?" Mark asked.

"Why?"

"Because we can help him." Mark replied.

Serizawa's lips curled into a smile, and he gave a single, firm nod.


	17. Rebirth!

**Chapter 16**: Rebirth!

"All right Bowman. Let's take her down." The Captain ordered.

"Dive the ship. Make depth 150." Bowman relayed to the crew.

"Good luck." Sam said through the monitor's audio, as he elected to remain in Castle Bravo.

"Thanks Sam... We'll need it." Mark replied.

Ilene had been standing next to him and waved a quick peace sign to the others. But upon hearing Mark say "we'll need it," she paused and leaned over to look at him as if to ask "are you okay?" Mark gave a little smirk and nodded, and she put a hand on his back as they walked away and the feed cut.

"They're kind of a cute couple, actually. Don't you think?" Sam asked.

"Eh." Barnes muttered.

Sam looked at Barnes for a moment, who then looked at Sam.

"What?" Barnes asked.

"... Nothing." Sam said, shaking his head and waving his hand.

The sub began its descent into the depths as the shining form of Mothra faded from view as darkness engulfed all.

The silence which enveloped the crew was palpable. Mark could swear it was getting harder to breathe, and not from the increasing pressure of the ocean around the sub.

Ilene, to keep herself occupied, was scouring her family's private files once again searching for anything she could about Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and Godzilla. Even the smallest hint would help.

Serizawa, meanwhile, looked at his pocket watch.

"What time is it?" Mark asked, hoping to cut the tension.

"... Time to get a new watch," Serizawa replied.

Mark smirked.

"Andrew's favorite joke." He said quietly.

Serizawa chuckled quietly.

"You never took that watch out of your pocket without him asking that question."

Serizawa nodded.

"You know... If you told me five years ago that I'd be trying to save the creature which took my son, and that it'd be the only way to save the family I have left..." Mark mused.

Serizawa looked away, and then leaned over the table next to Mark.

"Sometimes the only way to heal our wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them." Serizawa replied.

Mark's smirk turned into a genuine smile.

"... I guess you're right." He agreed.

Serizawa turned around, sitting on the edge of the table.

"You know, Mark. There are some things in this world beyond our understanding. We must be able to accept and learn from them. Because in these moments of crisis are also moments of faith. And they work together to create moments in time where we either come together, or fall apart. Nature, unlike humanity, always has a way of balancing itself. And the only question is..." He trailed off, putting his glasses back on after taking them off to clean them. "... What part will we play?" He finished.

"Did you just make that up?" Mark asked.

"No. I read it in a fortune cookie once." Serizawa joked, earning a laugh from Mark. "A _really_ long fortune cookie," he continued, starting to laugh himself along with Mark and some of the crew around them who'd been listening in.

Suddenly, the sub began to tremble and shake violently causing the electronics to jitter.

"Status of the ship!" The Captain demanded.

"Some sort of vortex, Captain!" Bowman replied. "It's dragging us! 1,600 feet until impact!"

The sub was indeed being pulled into an underwater maelstrom and sucked down further into the depths of the ocean. As it was tossed this way and that, spinning round and round the crew all took to their seats as their bodies felt the G Forces of the sub being tossed around like a rag doll. Several crew members lost their dinner, and Mark felt like his stomach was being pushed up against his rib cage as he held tight to his own seat's safety belt. Ilene, seated and strapped in next to him, grabbed his hand as they both struggled to remain conscious against the increasing G Forces.

"800 feet!" Bowman called, his voice unsteady from his own struggle for consciousness.

"Emergency Blow!... 200 feet! 100 feet! 25!" Bowman called.

"Brace for impa-" The Captain began as a massive thundering **THUD** shook the vessel.

...

Deep beneath the waves, the sub sat on the edge of a sheer under water precipice. The force of the vortex no longer threw the vessel around, but the subtle, almost gentle caress of the remnants of that vortex's influence could still be felt brushing past the sub's hull.

"Status report!" The Captain called.

"Can't fix our position, sir! The GPS is down! But inertial says we're... 600 miles from departure." Bowman replied.

"That can't be." A crewman replied.

"I _knew_ it man! The vortex was a tunnel into the Hollow Earth!" Rick exclaimed excitedly, his mild buzz from earlier having since worn off. "It's a subterranean tunnel system that wraps around the entire planet and connects various areas of it like a bit highway! But it doesn't matter! I knew I was right! I _told_ you Chen!" He called to Ilene.

"Shut up, Rick!" She demanded, holding her stomach as she was still quite motion sick.

"One second emergency blow forward." The Captain ordered.

The sub's exterior lights flickered to life, and the sub was pushed forward by the blow and gently eased off the edge of the precipice.

"Doctor?" The Captain asked.

"Launch the probes." Serizawa said.

A few moments later, the probes were launched from the sub. Small, drone-like underwater scouts controlled via Rick's station and those nearest him. And as they took off, their feeds came back remarkably crystal clear despite where they were.

Below the probes was uneven terrain, scarred and barren as if life had once lived here but since been wiped out. Despite being under water, it looked bone dry. Subaquatic stalagmites rising from the ground occasionally emerged from the gloom forcing the probes to go around. Small coral reefs, miniature caves and crevices everywhere. It was truly a new and unexplored world for modern science.

"Range, 1,000 meters. Camera good." Rick muttered to himself as he controlled his probe.

The probe feed continued to show more of the same until at last the head and face of a statue burst into view, nearly resulting in a crash. The sudden appearance caused Ilene to stand up and lean away from the monitor, gently bumping into Mark who stood partly behind her. She smiled nervously and gave a head bow of apology while he smirked and pat her shoulder.

"Jesus." Rick said quietly.

"Pan right," Mark whispered.

As the probe backed away from the statue and panned right, an entire underwater city seemed to emerge before them. Small buildings, dwellings, and other enormous statues bordering the squared-off entrance to this new world flanked the sub as it slowly crawled forward through the water.

All around were massive pillars and walls almost as if there was a giant castle or temple built around them. And at this point it wasn't hard to imagine that this was indeed the case. But what told them it wasn't quite accurate was the fact that the cave ceiling above them was cleared of these structures... They were still "outside" whatever primary structures may lay ahead.

Statues to the left and right as they continued seemed to line their way forward, almost as if they were being guided. The statues put the sub to shame in terms of size, gazing down at it almost as if they were themselves Titans. Had they been alive and able to move, the sub would be moving full speed the other direction.

But ahead lay their path, and there was no turning back now.

As the probes moved forward there seemed to be natural subterranean and sub aquatic light sources now illuminating the immense passage they were in. Bridges linking the two sides of the chamber, with arches large enough for the sub to pass through, lay ahead. The sheer scale and magnitude of the buildings was enough to give the entire crew pause.

"Incredible..." Mark whispered.

"How could they make things this big down here? And how'd they get underwater in the first place?" A crewman asked.

"There are many mysteries yet unsolved about this sacred place." Serizawa whispered.

"Yeah but... Why underwater?" The same crewman asked.

"We don't know, man. But at one point this place had to be clear of water. There's no way humans could build under the ocean like this without gills. And as far as we _do _know our ancestors never had any." Rick replied.

As the sub continued onward, one very important thing happened.

An image carved into the walls beside the sub appeared an image of none other than Godzilla. Beneath him, in pyramid-like formation, were humans bowing and worshipping him as their deity. This image confirmed many of the theories MONARCH had come to adopt regarding the relationship between the earliest human civilizations and the Titans. But more than that, it also seemed to confirm a long-time theory about humanity's singular origins. That all peoples once began life in one place before spreading throughout the world to establish the cultures and ethnic identities they held today.

The presence of various runes and hieroglyphs of styles reminiscent of Egypt, Rome, Greece, Japan, and more all seeming to appear at once in the carved writings on the walls.

"Doctor Stanton. Can you locate Gojira?" Serizawa asked.

"Yeah. The probe is picking up a radioactive blob just past that ridge." He replied.

"Set a course." Serizawa ordered.

Continuing forward, the sub floated above what appeared to be an underwater river of lava. It almost looked like a river of flames, pulsing and flashing beneath them and guiding their path forward towards the projected location detected by the probe. And then, ahead of the sub, lay a massive ovular opening with an orange glow emanating from deep within.

"I think we should stop here." Rick said.

"Why?" Serizawa asked.

"Because I still wanna have kids one day. Preferably _without_ flippers." Rick replied.

"All stop. Hover the ship." The Captain ordered.

The sub halted its advance, and the probes continued forward without it. However, as they entered the ovular opening, they suddenly began to spark and malfunction.

"Whoa!" Rick exclaimed. "Yeah. We got 02. C02. Methane... But it looks like there's some sort of air pocket in there."

Rick's probe managed to surface and used its hover rotors to rise out of the water. The feed of the cavern was dark and ominous. Lava flows pouring from the ceiling down into the chamber were the only light it had to help reveal the secrets of the world beyond to the sub and her crew.

And then, as it panned right, it beheld a pyramid structure and...

"Gojira." Serizawa whispered as Godzilla's spines, illuminated by the lava flows behind him, appeared on screen.

And then, the feed cut.

"And goodnight, Gracie." Rick sighed.

"Pull up the last frame!" Serizawa ordered.

"Yup. There." Rick replied.

The final frame was shown, and from Godzilla's spines could be seen a soft glow against the light behind him.

"There. The source of the radiation." Serizawa stated as he pointed to the glow.

"He's feeding." Ilene said. "Regenerating."

"This is his home." Serizawa said quietly to himself.

"This must be how he's survived for so long. Adapting... Evolving... It's incredible." Mark whispered.

"So, the big guy's got this covered right? He just needs a little nap?" Rick asked.

"No. This process could take years for a creature his size to regenerate all the strength he lost to the Oxygen Destroyer." Ilene countered.

"We have to proceed as planned." Serizawa stated.

"So hold on. We're going to launch a nuclear torpedo to revive a giant monster. This is-... This isn't just like jump-starting a car." Rick said.

"We have another complication. Our weapon systems were damaged during the crash. We can't launch." The Captain said.

"Can it be repaired?" Mark asked.

"I'm afraid not." The Captain replied.

"Okay. What if we send someone inside, set a timer, and blow the warhead manually?" Ilene asked.

"No way. If the heat doesn't fry you, the radiation will. Just look at that Geiger reading." Rick said, pointing to the readings on his screen.

The room was engulfed in silence.

"So there's _nothing_ we can do?" Mark asked.

"Doesn't look like it." Rick replied.

"There _must_ be a way. Don't we have protective suits?" Mark asked.

"We _do_. But they're only designed to withstand lower levels of radiation at sites where the main bulk of it's worn off. But with _these_ kinds of readings, you'll grow a second head by the time you get anywhere near Godzilla and prep the nuke." Rick said.

"I'll go." Serizawa whispered.

All eyes fell on Serizawa, and Ilene fervently shook her head.

"No. There _must_ be another way!" She countered.

"There's no time for debate." Serizawa said quietly. "I'll take the nuke to Gojira." He said.

"... No. No, you won't." Mark said.

Serizawa sighed and turned towards him.

"Mark, please-"

"You don't have to go anywhere, Serizawa. Godzilla's what? Maybe 800 meters away from us right now?" Mark asked.

"1,200." Rick corrected.

"Okay, 1,200 meters. That's still _more_ than close enough to set the nuke off on a remote timer from _right here_." Mark said.

Everyone's eyes began to light up.

"Guys, come on. You've all seen what a nuke is capable of. The things have a blast radius of over twelve miles. It doesn't have to be point blank to be effective." He continued.

"He's right! He's right! We can just drop it from the sub and set it off via remote once we're clear of the blast zone!" Ilene happily chimed in, grabbing Serizawa's hand.

"You don't have to leave us." She whispered, her lower lip quivering.

Serizawa, both surprised and relieved, nodded slowly and gave Ilene a small hug before she walked over to Mark and jumped into his arms nuzzling his shoulder.

"Thank you, Mark! Thank you!" She repeated happily.

Mark was a bit unsure of the situation, but he gave her a few pats on the back and let her hold on.

"Damn... All this stress and pressure got to us I guess. We completely forgot how powerful nukes are despite always using them as reference for anti-war sentiments." Rick said with a chuckle.

"All right. Prep the warhead." The Captain ordered.

"Aye sir!" Bowman replied.

A few minutes later, the bottom hatch opened and a diver carried the nuke directly below the sub and firmly planted it against the stone ground. Setting the detonation device to manual and arming it, he swam back up into the sub which began a full 180 degree turn and started to move slowly back through the enormous cavern from whence it came.

Leaving behind this beautiful underwater world and knowing it was about to be destroyed left Serizawa, Ilene, Rick, and even Mark with heavy hearts. Ilene grabbed Mark's hand and silently wept as she watched that carving of Godzilla being worshiped pass by, and tightly shut her eyes while letting her head sink down. Mark sighed through his nose softly as he rubbed her back causing her to lean against him.

The rest of the crew was a mixture of smiles and nerves, some twitching and tapping their feet nervously while others were juiced and talking about how awesome it would be to have their bets shot at beating Ghidorah back. And for several long minutes they traced the way they'd come back towards the exit to the underwater ruins.

However, a problem arose.

"Hold it. Stop the vessel!" The Captain ordered.

The vessel came to a halt in the middle of the opening, and everyone gathered around him.

"The signal is starting to get sketchy. If we go too much further we might not be able to set it off." He said.

Everyone saw and heard the signal beginning to cut briefly as the remote was held up.

"What do we do?" Rick asked.

"We've no choice but to detonate from here." The Captain said.

"Wait. If we do that we'll _all_ be caught in the blast!" Rick countered.

"I know." The Captain said on a sigh.

"We can't risk going a little further? We're almost out of here." Mark said.

"No. With the signal getting this glitchy we run the risk of the nuke losing connection entirely We have to detonate from here or there's not going to be an explosion at all." The Captain retorted.

Everyone's shoulders slouched as a wave of defeat overcame them.

"... I'll do it." Came a call from the back of the room.

All eyes turned towards the source as a young man came forward, saluting the Captain.

"Sir, it would be my honor to remain behind to detonate the nuke upon your order!" He said.

Looking at the young sailor's name on his uniform, the Captain sighed calmly through his nose and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Petty Officer, Second Class, Steve Martin... The job is yours." He replied, handing the detonator to the young sailor.

"Yes, sir!" Steve shouted with a salute.

Throughout the room swept a wave of both relief and sadness. This young officer was now preparing to sacrifice himself for the good of all. A true patriot and model sailor in the United States Navy.

"Prep for dive, son. Not to put pressure on you, pardon the pun, but the water pressure out there is going to be intense this far down. You need to hold out until I give the order, son. Think you can handle it?" The Captain asked.

"Aye, sir!"

The Captain smiled.

"Let's go then." He said.

A minute later, Petty Officer Steve Martin exited the sub through the lower hatch. Holding tight to the remote and with a comm link in his ear, he listened to the Captain's instructions one last time.

"God speed, son." The Captain said after relaying the instructions.

"Aye, sir! And sir?"

"Yes, son?"

"... Please. Take the camera in my room and deliver it to my fiance. She'll want to see all the pictures I took on deployment when it comes home." He said quietly.

The Captain's lower lip quivered and tightened, and he closed his eyes tightly before finally forming a response.

"You got it, son. I'll deliver it personally. That's a promise." He replied.

"Thank you, sir." Steve said.

The entire room was swept away by Petty Officer Martin's bravery and his acceptance of his fate. Ilene broke down in tears, as did many of Petty Officer Martin's friends and brothers in arms throughout the room. Even the Captain was hiding the fact that he was crying beneath his cap.

"Full speed ahead!" He ordered through a sob.

"Aye, sir!" Bowman sniffled.

The sub raced away at full speed, and as its lights faded Steve could no longer see anything. It was pitch black darkness all around. He couldn't even see the remote.

"Captain. We're clear of the blast zone." Bowman said quietly.

"Understood... Steve? You still with me?"

Silence.

"Steve?"

...

"Petty Officer Steve Martin. Can you hear me?" The Captain asked forcefully.

"Ugh... Y-yes, sir. Sorry, sir. It's... Really cold..." Steve replied as a wave of relief overcame the crew.

"It's time, son..." The Captain said softly.

"Aye, sir. T-t-time to... Brr... Time to-... Bring him back to us." Steve replied.

All they heard on the audio feed was a click, and within seconds the feed cut out and gave way to a static buzzing as the light of the nuke's explosion turned night into day on the ocean floor. Once again, all within the sub felt a combination of relief and sadness. Relief that their mission was now a success. But sadness for the passing of a brave and noble soul like Steve Martin.

The sub broke the surface, and Mark, Ilene, Serizawa, and Rick all walked outside with the Captain as the rain pelted them from overhead.

"See anything?" Ilene asked.

"Not yet!" Rick said, looking through his binoculars.

"Hey, not to throw mud on what happened... But what if it didn't work?" Rick asked.

"Doctor Stanton! If you question the sacrifice of that young man again, I will personally see to it that you are removed from MONARCH upon our return!" Serizawa barked, causing Rick to step back and put his hands up in acceptance of the threat.

Serizawa walked beside Mark.

"Anything?" He asked.

"Wait... Yes!" Mark called.

"Something's happening in the water over there!" He shouted, pointing out to sea.

A maelstrom began forming in the water a few hundred meters away from the sub. And as they all gathered around Mark and looked out towards it, steam began to rise from its center. But not only that... From within the core of the maelstrom began to shine a familiar blue light.

Godzilla's spines erupted from beneath the water, flashing and pulsing with that oh so welcome light reminiscent of Cherenkov lights in nuclear reactors. Following his spines was his head, his back straightening until he floated vertically from the waist up with a fierce snarl on his face. And with a single roar, he released his thermonuclear breath straight into the skies above in a divine demonstration of power.

As the breath came to an end, he spied the sub and leaned down towards it, much to the fear of most of the crew. A small snarl formed on his face as he sniffed at the vessel.

"Nobody move!" Mark called.

Godzilla's eyes landed squarely on Mark and the others, and for a long moment they all stared back at him. As the moments passed, Godzilla's face softened as a look similar to recognition crossed his features. Rising and turning away, but not before sharing one final glance back towards the tiny humans on the sub, Godzilla dove beneath the surface and slowly disappeared from view.


	18. Taking A Stand

**Chapter 17**: Taking A Stand

Maddison huffed as she sat against the door of her room, locking the rest of the world out.

"Dammit mom." She whispered.

Her father was right. Sacrificing lives in this way just so the Titans can roam free wasn't the path to coexistence. But her mother was too focused on nature and the Earth as an organism to see that.

Suddenly, a knock came at the door sending a vibration through her back.

"Madison!" Jonah called.

She remained perfectly still.

"I know you're in there, Madison. Open the door, please." He called again.

Stillness.

"Ugh... Fine. Have it your way." He said.

A click startled her, and the door was pulled open from the outside as she almost fell backwards with it. Scrambling to her feet, she backed away from Jonah and put the table between herself and him as he entered slowly and shut (and locked) the door.

"You and I need to have a talk, Madison." He said, taking a seat opposite her.

She merely glared him down, to which he smirked with a soft chuckle.

"You have your father's spirit. That's for sure. But you have your mother's stubbornness." He joked.

"I get it from dad." She retorted.

"Do you, now?" He asked, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Well. Seems it's a double dose of stubbornness then. Your mother won't cooperate with me anymore."

"Good!" She barked.

"You don't understand Madison. That's _not_ good."

"Why not? Because you can't get your way anymore?"

"No. Because if she won't cooperate, she's going to die."

Maddie froze.

"I'd rather not be forced to kill her, Madison. But if she won't cooperate, then she's a liability. And our mission is far too important for liabilities to be allowed to remain."

She took slow, deep breaths while continuing to glare him down.

"You see, Maddie. May I call you "_Maddie_?"" He asked.

She huffed at him.

"I'll take that for a "_yes_." So, Maddie. Your mother seems to be having second thoughts about our mission."

"The mission to wipe out humanity?"

"No. The mission to save it from itself."

"You can't fool me you sicko. I heard you yelling at mother about how you don't care what the Titans do under Monster Zero as long as they wipe us all out."

"You misunderstood me, Maddie. I said as long as they wipe out the infection that is humanity, I didn't care what they did. And there's a big difference in those phrases my girl."

"I don't see it."

"No. Of course you don't. So I'll explain."

"Don't bother."

"No, you need to hear it. The "_infection_" that is humanity is a combination of the greedy, selfish, and corrupt who pilfer the wealth of their people and countries in order to further their own positions in life. They're the ones who cause and support pollution, unrestricted expansion, war, and keeping the pulse of the populace under their thumb. They're the ones I want wiped out, Maddie. Not _everyone_."

"I don't believe you."

"I really don't care if you believe me or not. All I need from you is your understanding that if you can't convince your mother to cooperate with us until we see our mission through, I'll have no choice but to remove her as an obstacle to our success."

He put the cigarette out and walked to the door.

"Do have a chat with her, won't you? I rather like her, and I respect her work. But I can't, and _won't_ tolerate liabilities." He said, closing the door behind himself.

Maddie let out a breath she'd been holding and leaned forward onto her elbows against the table top.

"Prick." She muttered.

Standing up straight, Maddie looked around the room. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she was looking for _something_. Anything she could use to get out of this place. And while rummaging, a knock came at the door causing her to spin around and duck behind the table.

"Maddie?" Emma called.

She sighed in relief.

"Yeah?"

"May I come in?"

"... Sure. It's open." She said begrudgingly.

Emma entered the room and closed the door.

"You okay, baby?"

"Jonah visited."

"What?"

"He said you're not cooperating?"

Emma remained silent.

"He's going to kill you, mom."

"I know."

"Then why are you refusing to cooperate?"

"Jonah wants to kill all of humanity, and I just want us to coexist with the Titans. If he's going to take things to _that_ extreme, I'm not going to help him."

"He called you a liability and said that he won't tolerate liabilities. And if _you're_ a liability, what does that make me?"

Emma couldn't answer that.

"I don't want him to succeed, but I don't want you to die either. So play along, okay?"

"Maddie..."

Emma walked around the table and gave Maddie a hug.

"I'm proud of you, baby." She whispered, kissing Maddie's forehead.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need you to be like your father for a while and do something crazy."

"What?"

Emma grabbed Maddie's shoulders and held her out to arm's length.

"Maddie. I want you to take the Orca and set it up at the baseball stadium as a distraction for Monster Zero. Can you do that?"

"Wait, what?!"

"Shhh! Maddie!" Emma whispered, checking the door.

"Maddie, this is our only option now. No matter what he told you, he needs me to operate the Orca. I'm the only one aside from your father who knows how. But _you_ I can't keep safe from him. Not unless I do something to get you out of here."

"But mom. I can't leave you with that psycho!"

"Hush, Maddie. This isn't the time for debate. You need to take the Orca to the stadium and broadcast its signal at maximum strength."

"But how? I don't know how to use it other than turning it on!"

"I'll write it down for you, okay? Trust me. It'll be fine."

"But how can I trust you when you say that now?"

"Maddie. I've made a lot of mistakes. But this isn't going to be one of them. Take the Orac to the stadium, broadcast its signal, and then run home as fast as you can. You know the way, right?"

"Yeah. I remember."

"Good. I'll come get you once I've lost Jonah and the others after Monster Zero arrives."

"Wait! You're calling that thing?!"

"Maddie. It's the only way. Calling Monster Zero here to this location will give us the time we need to get out of here. We'll find a MONARCH facility, and they'll protect us."

"They'll protect _me_, mom. But you?"

Maddie paused, and Emma smiled.

"I'll have to face what I've done sooner or later, Maddie. Better I do it in the hands of MONARCH than in Jonah's hands or the jaws of a monster, right?"

Maddie struggled to nod.

"Good girl."

Emma walked to a nearby desk to grab a pen and paper, and scribbled down a list of instructions for Maddie as she watched over her mother's shoulder.

"Follow these instructions exactly, and get the hell out of the stadium once you're done. Got it?"

"Got it, mom."

"Good."

She kissed Maddie's forehead again.

"I love you, Maddie."

"I love you too, mom."

"The Orca will be in the war room of the bunker where I contacted your father and the others before. The guards there have regular shifts, so wait for them to change at around 8pm tonight and get the Orca out of there. The best way to go after it's in hand will be back this way and out the service tunnel on the lower West side. Okay?"

"Right."

"Good luck, sweetheart."

"You too."

Emma left the room, and Maddie sat down to wait. And as 7:55pm rolled around, Maddie slowly exited her room and, using what her father taught her during the trips she took with him to observe animals, crept through the facility using everything and anything as cover to avoid detection. And as she approached the war room, she peeked inside the glass window on the door and saw the guards still inside.

"Are we off yet?"

"Another couple minutes. The others are running late."

"Mind if I take off? I haven't slept in over twenty hours."

"Yeah, sure. Pansy."

"Ah fuck off."

The one guard turned around, and Maddie barely avoided detection as she ducked down and hid behind the corner of the hallway as the door opened. But he was coming her direction now. Thinking quickly, she slipped into a nearby storage closet and quietly shut the door, holding the door knob in the unlocked position as she couldn't risk letting go of it and letting it make a sound. His footsteps drew closer and closer, and his shadow finally passed the grated vent in the closet door before the footsteps began fading.

Once they were gone, Maddie was about to sneak around the corner until she heard more footsteps ahead. Pausing, she listened.

"Another boring shift of doing nothing."

"Yeah. But we're paid well, so shut it and do your job."

"Egh."

The guards went inside, and as they let the door fly open on their way in she quietly hurried and caught it just before it closed. Opening it and sneaking inside as quietly as she could, she waited for the two guards to relieve the third of his post by hiding beneath the counter top the Orca sat on.

"All right. Don't have too much fun guys." The now off-duty guard joked.

"Get outta here." The other barked.

The guard began to leave, and as he turned the door knob Maddie crouched and slid the Orca off the counter top and into her hands, masking the slide by the sound of the door swinging open. Once it was fully open and the guard exited, she tip toed forward and used her fingers to catch the door before it shut.

_Crap... Now what?_ She thought.

The other guards would hear her if she pushed the door open now. However... One of their radios surged to life.

"You two on duty?" Came Jonah's voice on the radio.

"Yes, sir. We're here."

Now or never. Maddie slipped through the door and snuck back the way she came until she reached her room. She'd prepared supplies ahead of time such as wire cutters for the fence around the stadium, and a pair of binoculars just in case. Grabbing what she needed and stuffing it all into her bag, along with the Orca, she exited her room and carefully, nonchalantly walked through the halls towards the West service tunnel. Along the way, a pair of guards eyed her warily. She smiled and nodded, and they scoffed and shook their heads.

"Fucking teens think they own the world," one of them said.

Maddie sighed inwardly and hurried along.

When she reached the tunnel, she frowned as she went inside. The smell wasn't pleasant, and the fact that it ran outside alongside the sewage pipes didn't help either. But it was her only shot at getting to a place outside that wasn't guarded. Minute after minute ticked by, and Maddie began to second guess herself and how well she knew this tunnel until she at last came to a familiar landmark. A small vent showing her the exterior, not far outside the main facility's perimeter fence line. Soliders paced and checked their weapons and equipment, as well as monitoring communication lines.

Jonah was out here too, chatting with one of the others about something Maddie couldn't make out. But rather than wait, Maddie continued on.

As she reached the end of the service tunnel, she popped the latch and forced it open. Now well outside the perimeter they'd set up, Maddie closed the door and walked along the tall grass lining the road until she walked up a hill and spied the stadium about a mile away.

"Okay Maddie... Deep breath." She whispered.

The mile walk to the stadium was the most tense time of her life. The city was eerily silent. Much of the people had evacuated due to the presence of Monster Zero in DC despite the distance between the two cities. Still, this was somewhat welcome as well. Nobody was really around to question her as she jogged to the stadium, forced her way inside, and went up to the press tower.

Following her mother's instructions and hooking up the Orca to the announcer's speaker system as well as the radio broadcast lines, she fired up the Alpha signal and started the call. The Orca sizzled to life, and the pulse she'd learned to hate began to ring through her ears as the floor vibrated ever so slightly due to the volume she'd set to the speakers.

Meanwhile, in DC, Ghidorah had made swift work of the fighter squadrons sent against it by the US Air Force, and turned North towards Boston with a vicious snarl on all three heads.


	19. Eleventh Hour

**Chapter 18**: Eleventh Hour

"Mark! We just picked up a signal from the Orca!" Sam called.

"Where is it?" Mark asked.

"It's somewhere in Boston. And we just learned that both Godzilla and Ghidorah are headed that way as well. But we haven't been able to pinpoint the location without the missing piece in the Orca's signal." Sam replied.

"I've got the missing piece." Mark said calmly.

Mark quickly brought up the frequency response of a homo sapien on his computer, and began working as the others gathered around him.

"It's Godzilla, right?" Sam asked. "I mean, I know we already tried that but-"

"It's _not_ Godzilla... It's _us_." Mark interjected.

"What do you mean "_us_?"" Foster asked.

"Emma combined the bioacoustics of Godzilla with a human." He replied.

Serizawa took a deep breath as realization dawned on him.

"She thinks he's the key as well." Serizawa whispered.

"Yeah. Probably. Either way, that's how she made the signal for the Orca. To the other Titans, it's just the call of another apex predator they don't fully recognize." Mark continued.

"Well that makes sense. I mean, we _are_ a bunch of horny murderous carnivores." Rick joked.

"Yeah, right. Real poetic. Now what?" Foster asked forcefully.

"We track it down and we get my daughter back." Mark replied.

"What about Moe, Larry, and Curly over here?" Rick asked, pointing to the image taken from teh cave paintings of Ghidorah battling Godzilla.

"Godzilla will bring balance." Ilene replied.

"Yes. Gojira will defeat Ghidorah." Serizawa added.

"Ah! A little, "_let 'em fight_" action eh Serizawa?" Rick asked almost playfully.

"Yes, Rick. We must let them fight." Serizawa replied with a chuckle.

"Aw yeah. I love it when you say that." Rick cheered.

"No. This time, we join the fight." Mark retorted, and Ilene smiling to herself as she listened.

Back in the bunker, Jonah approached Emma at her table in her room.

"Doctor?" He said, taking a seat.

"What do you want now, Jonah?" She asked calmly.

"I hope Maddie had a chance to talk to you about cooperating with us."

"She had plenty to say about your visit."

"And?"

"I'll go along with you for now, Jonah. But not forever. You may have convinced her that you'll kill me, but we both know you don't know how to operate the Orca. You need me."

"Too true, doctor. I _do_ need you. For now." He said, standing up and lighting a cigarette.

"However, you shouldn't overestimate your worth. We've been recording you since the minute you arrived, and we've seen how you operate the Orca. It's a very handy device, is it not?" He asked.

Emma's breath hitched, but she took a deep breath and lifted her chin at him.

"It can be." She replied.

"Yes. Yes, it can."

"Do you have a point to make?"

"Yes, doctor. And I think it's been made quite clearly." He said, putting the cigarette out on the surface of the table and flicking the ash in her direction.

Emma didn't flinch, and kept her eyes on Jonah the whole time.

"Ta ta." He said, opening the door only to be approached by one of his men.

"Sir! The Orca's gone!"

"What?!"

Emma stood up rapidly, eyes wide as she rushed around the table.

"What do you mean, _gone_?!" Jonah demanded.

"You _lost_ it?!" Emma yelled.

"We're combing the entire facility now, sir!"

"You'd better find it! If you don't, we could all get caught in a _very_ bad situation from which there's no getting out of!" Jonah barked.

"Yes, sir!"

The man ran off, and Jonah turned a cold eye towards Emma.

"Did _you_ have anything to do with this?" He asked on a growl.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"I'm willing to bet money that your little brat has stolen the Orca and taken it somewhere away from here to use against us. And I'm even more willing to bet money that _you_ had something to do with it."

"As much as I hate to say it, Maddie and I aren't on the best of terms right now. She may have done this to get back at me just as much to get back at _you_." Emma insisted, frowning and getting in his face.

"Mind yourself, Doctor." He growled, pushing the barrel of a handgun into her stomach.

"I don't take kindly to people invading my space." He snarled.

Emma backed away a step.

"If and when you find the Orca, bring it to me immediately. I need to make sure it hasn't been tampered with or things could be even worse than _you_ dare predict." She said firmly, shutting the door in his face.

Jonah growled to himself as he stomped through the halls, pushing by every soldier in his way. Emma, meanwhile, slumped against the door heaving a sigh as she looked at her now trembling hands.

Back on the Argo, Colonel Foster sat at the helm and held up her intercom to speak to the entire crew.

"Everyone, we'll be arriving at Boston in less than an hour. Godzilla's directly beneath us, and we're going to use everything we've got to help him kill Ghidorah. This is by _far_ our most dangerous and most important mission to date. I need your best, and so does Godzilla. If we fail, humanity will fall... So let's kill this bastard and go home." She announced.

The crew replied with resounding cheers and agreement, pumping themselves up for the battle of their lives. The fighter squadrons filled the skies around the Argo as Godzilla's flashing blue spines illuminated the waters below.

"Serizawa. You really think Godzilla can beat that thing?" Sam asked.

"He can." Serizawa replied simply.

"But how? I mean that thing's the biggest Titan we've ever discovered, and it already survived one doomsday device from the Admiral that almost killed Godzilla." Sam continued.

"Calm yourself." Ilene said calmly.

"Sam, try not to worry. Gojira was holding his own before the Oxygen Destroyer was used. Our drones even recorded footage of him removing one of Ghidorah's heads. And that was _before_ the nuke revived him." Serizawa continued.

"And now that he's all jacked up from the radiation juice, he's gonna kick some serious tail!" Rick added, throwing a few air punches.

Sam chuckled nervously.

"Have some faith Sam." Mark said calmly.

"Hell, if I've learned anything from all this it's never to count Godzilla out of the fight. Ghidorah's big, and it's powerful. But Godzilla hasn't made it this far for nothing. And if he didn't know he could win, he wouldn't be bringing the challenge to Ghidorah like this." Mark added.

"You think so?" Sam asked.

"Some animal instincts are universal, Sam. And the instinct to survive and conquer is one of them." Mark said.

He looked to the screen showing Godzilla swimming beneath them.

"When an alpha level predator knows it's dealing with an intruder, it has no choice but to fight. But the less likely it is to win, the less eager to meet the challenge it is. But look at him... He's swimming with purpose, not fear or tension." Mark continued, looking back to Sam.

"He'll be fine. We just need to make sure we're ready to help him out if need be. And in the meantime, we focus on finding the Orca." He finished.

"Yeah... Okay. Got it. Sorry about that." Sam said.

"Ah. It's all good man. Everyone loses their nerves every now and then." Rick said, giving him a shoulder clap.

"Look sharp, everyone... There's a storm ahead." Foster called.

Everyone looked forward towards the main view windows, and sure enough an ominous storm had gathered in the skies ahead and was moving fast. Godzilla picked up speed, beginning to leave the Argo and the squadrons behind.

"Jesus, he's fast!" Rick exclaimed.

"All right. Time to kick this baby into gear." Foster said with a smile.

The Argo's main engines roared to life, and it sailed overhead and past Godzilla towards the center of the storm with the squadrons trailing like a led balloon filling the sky.

Back in Boston at the stadium, Maddie was having trouble deciding what to do. If she fled now, the Orca could be destroyed. And if that happened, and if Monster Zero couldn't be stopped, then humanity's chances of survival took a nose dive. But if she didn't flee, she'd probably get killed.

However, it was now too late.

Maddie watched in silence and horror as the skies outside rapidly filled with roaring and crashing thunderclouds. And within moments, Monster Zero landed hard in the stadium crushing the East side seating beneath its massive clawed feet. And as it brought its tail around by her window, she ducked down low to avoid being seen or caught by any potential debris it sent through the window. No debris, but it did unleash an ear-splitting roar which made her cover her ears.

A few seconds later she felt the stadium shake, and the reason was because the central head had chomped down on the speakers to shut the Orca's signal off. But doing so only cut off the outer speaker pulse. And the pulse inside the room with Maddie was still very, very active.

Maddie grabbed the Orca and tried to shut it down, but as she slid it off the counter top and into her lap she looked up into the eyes of Monster Zero as its eyes narrowed with anger.

"Oh... Shit." She whispered.

Monster Zero's throats began to shimmer, and Maddie didn't need to be told to get on her feet and move. She bolted through the doors, Orca in hand, as Monster Zero unleashed its lightning beams through the windows. The building shook violently as golden lighting arced through it. One bolt, or rather a tiny flare from one, raced by Maddie's ear scorching her flesh before slamming into the wall ahead of her. Maddie paused and felt her ear, and the searing pain which shot through her head as she did so made her immediately scream and she almost dropped the Orca.

"Move Maddie!" She yelled through the pain.

Continuing on, Maddie raced through the stadium's main building as Monster Zero continued blasting it. Several times she almost was crushed by debris or thrown off her feet. But she made it to street level and burst through the glass doors leading outside using the Orca's case as a hammer. Now free of the death trap that was the building, she continued racing through the streets until another stray flare from Monster Zero's beams lashed out and sent a car flipping end over end across her path. To avoid it, she had to dive for cover. But she was no stunt woman, and the landing severely hurt her shoulder as she cried out in pain.

With the Orca still broadcasting its signal, and Monster Zero searching the streets for its source, Maddie threw the device using her good arm towards the beast. Its central head lowered to ground level, and turned towards her. And as their eyes met, the other two heads gathered beside it.

In this moment, time stood still for Maddie.

That same cold, evil feeling she'd gotten while Monster Zero was trapped in the ice returned in force. Her body, ignoring the icy sting of the rain, began to shiver and tremble. The air grew warmer, and Monster Zero's heads rose high into the sky as they began charging their lightning blasts once more.

Maddie, not content to just stand there and wait for death, shrieked at Monster Zero at the top of her lungs.

But then...


	20. True Alpha vs False King!

**Chapter 19**: True Alpha vs. False King!

The skies erupted with blue light as a burst stream struck Ghidorah's chest causing him to fly backwards for over a hundred meters before gracelessly falling to the ground in a heap.

Madison couldn't believe her eyes. But it was the ground beneath her feet, trembling every so often with a deep, thunderous sound accompanying each tremor which caught her breath and attention. Slowly turning around, she heard _that_ roar which could only come from _him_.

As she fully turned around, she beheld the mighty Godzilla stomping forward through knee-deep water caused by the floods from Ghidorah's storm. His eyes and spines flashed and pulsed with every other step. His broad shoulders swayed gently from side to side as he walked, but their impressive musculature, coupled with the massive legs and neck, were intimidating to look at.

Still, Madison couldn't help but smile as he raised his head towards the fighter jet-filled sky and unleashed a roar.

As if on cue, the fighter jets racing overhead began arcing out and around taking aim at the three-headed false king who Godzilla glared down as it began to rise up and spread its wings as it did in Antarctica.

The snarl on Godzilla's face said it all.

"Ooooohhh... Big guy's _PISSED_!" Rick said excitedly.

"He's _definitely_ ready to kill something." Ilene said quietly.

"We've zeroed in on the last ping from the Orca. Fenway Park, dead ahead." Sam announced.

"We'll lay down cover fire to keep Ghidorah distracted." A pilot said over comms.

"Colonel, all squadrons are locked on target." Another solider relayed.

"あなた (anata) が (ga) しん (shin) の (no) おう (ou) 、 ごじら (Gojira) である (dearu) こと (koto) お (o) しょうめい (shoumei)!" (Prove you are the true king, Gojira!) Serizawa proclaimed forcefully.

With the Argo leading the charge, all squadrons opened fire on Ghidorah who crossed his wings in front of himself to protect his body from the blasts. Dozens of missiles impacted the target, some of them sneaking over and around the wings from various angles to strike the heads retreating behind them. Ghidorah roared in anger, but even with three heads it couldn't find a singular target to focus on.

That was, of course, until Godzilla roared at the top of his lungs sending a concussive burst through the air which struck Ghidorah's body and drew his attention.

"Did you see that!? The force of his roar alone created a shockwave!" Sam proclaimed.

"Damn right, brother! That kid Martin setting off the nuke has that lizard _juiced_!" Rick replied.

The two monsters snarled at one another, and Godzilla began a charge of his own. With speed belying his size, Godzilla sprinted towards his foe as Ghidorah also began a sprint using its wings as forelimbs to stabilize itself as it ran. And at last, the two behemoths collided sending a massive shock wave through the air which, when it struck the planes and the Argo, momentarily stuttered their electronic systems.

"Holy shit!... Uh... Is it _me_, or has he been working out?" Sam asked.

"Gojira feeds on radiation and uses it as a source of power. Setting off the nuke has made him far more powerful than before." Serizawa said.

"Oh, well that's good right?" Sam asked.

"Not necessarily!" Rick called, sliding his chair across to his station.

"Oh no..." He muttered.

"What is it?" Ilene asked.

"Godzilla's radiation levels have gone through the roof. So we got about twelve minutes before he goes thermonuclear!" Rick called.

"What does that mean?" Foster asked.

"In about twelve minutes it's gonna suck to be a Red Socks fan!" Rick replied.

Foster shook her head and rolled her eyes while balling her fists and pumping them down. In her mind, his face was there.

"Okay guys. You need to find the Orca, get Madison, and get the _Hell_ out of there!" Sam called over radio.

Mark and several soldiers were on a chopper headed for Fenway Park, listening in.

"That nuke trick worked a little too well on Godzilla. He's going to explode like a nuke himself in less than twelve minutes!" Sam finished.

"Roger that! Prepare for landing!" Barnes called back.

Right in front of the chopper Godzilla gripped hard to Ghidorah's necks and threw him several hundred meters off to the side and through a skyscraper. Descending as fast as they could with Godzilla's hulking form lumbering in the background, Mark and the others prepared to disembark and begin their search. One soldier crossed themselves. Barnes took a deep breath. And the others all gripped their weapons a little more tightly.

Godzilla unleashed a roar as a stray lighting strike hit the chopper causing it to momentarily lose balance. Inside the crew struggled to maintain their footing, but the chopper and her crew managed to hold out as she finally touched down and opened the rear doors. The first two soldiers out were instantly vaporized by a stray lightning flare from Ghidorah's attacks which had just slammed into Godzilla's chest knocking him back several steps in the background.

"Go! Go! Go!" Barnes ordered!

Mark exited the chopper last and ran to an open space to get a good look at his surroundings. But the first thing he saw was the titanic form of Ghidorah looming over him. Each step rattled the ground, and as he walked forward towards Godzilla his heads lashed out to bite at him. But Godzilla spun around, and his gargantuan tail sailed through the air at blistering speeds creating a sonic boom as it passed overhead before impacting Ghidorah's hips sending him sprawling to the ground with a shriek of pain.

"Madison!" Mark screamed.

"I got something! Over here!" A soldier cried out.

Mark sprinted over as another lightning blast shook the ground causing Mark to fall onto a hunk of debris.

"You all right?!" The soldier called.

"Yeah, yeah!" Mark replied.

"I found the Orca, sir! It's pretty banged up!" He continued. "No sign of your daughter!"

Suddenly, almost directly above them, Ghidorah and Godzilla clashed once more. Swatting one of the heads to the side, Godzilla grabbed the other two and pushed Ghidorah away. Arcing his hand back to take a swing, Godzilla was stopped cold by Ghidorah's three heads biting his neck and shoulder all in turn. CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!

"We gotta get outta here! Let's go!" The soldier yelled.

But as they fled towards the chopper, Ghidorah's massive foot flew down and crushed it like it was nothing. A small explosion erupted where the chopper once stood, and the shrapnel flew out striking several of the soldiers. Some of the strikes were fatal. Others, not. But for those whom it wasn't fatal, it was arguably worse now that they had to endure such pain.

Godzilla, meanwhile, was lifted up by his neck and slammed with tremendous force into the ground and dragged for about fifty meters by Ghidorah. But Godzilla would not be beaten so easily. The whirring and pulsing of his signature attack began to fill the air. Ghidorah's outer heads fought desperately to stop him while the center head held his throat, but Godzilla's powerful claws dug into the side of the central neck and pulled it away giving him just enough space to launch his thermonuclear breath straight into Ghidorah's chest. The blast immediately lifted Ghidorah off the ground and sent him back several hundred meters. Ghidorah was able to stabilize itself and withstand the blow, but not without a massive, sizzling, steaming burn mark being left behind darkening his once gleaming golden scales.

Suddenly, above Ghidorah, the skies began to sparkle as all sound began to vanish from the minds of Mark and the soldiers. Their hearts began to calm, and a warm feeling surged through them eliminating their previously panicked state.

On the Argo, Ilene's closed eyes fluttered open as a smile crept onto her lips.

Flashing a rainbow of colors, the clouds suddenly burst open giving way to the arrival of Mothra as she struck Ghidorah's three heads with her silk-like attack sticking them to a skyscraper right next to him. The right head managed to break free and watched her as she sailed around to gain distance, and it tried to bite the webbing to free its siblings.

However...

In the reflection of the glass came a familiar and not very welcome face accompanied by a pulsing blue light. The head turned just in time to see Godzilla arrive as he body slammed Ghidorah sending both of them through the building and Ghidorah to the ground at his feet. Huffing through his nose, Godzilla glared down his foe as Mothra began a rapid descent with her spike-like legs primed and ready to dig into Ghidorah's flesh.

But an orange-red light beside her permeated the clouds before the massive form of Rodan suddenly crashed through them catching Mothra completely off guard. With a shriek of aggression, Rodan's talons swept at Mothra pushing her off course and attempting to dig into her abdomen. Thinking quickly, she managed to slam her legs down pushing his clawed feet away. Both flapped their enormous wings in displays of intimidation and aggression before diving at one another and sailing through the skies and break-neck speeds.

Mark and the others took shelter beneath an already fallen section of a building as Rodan and Mothra raced overhead. The beats of their wings created hurricane force winds beneath them which swept a lot of the debris away. Luckily for Mark and the others, the debris they hid under was heavy enough to resist. Although... It did slide across the ground a few feet forcing them to move with it or be swept away.

Ghidorah, meanwhile, having managed to right himself had charged his bream attack and unleashed it at full force towards Godzilla. But the blasts were intercepted mid-flight by his thermonuclear breath. And supercharged as he was, his breath slowly pushed the beams back until Ghidorah had to break the attack and try to dodge as he had in Antarctica. But the blast was too large, and it still managed to singe the scales and flesh near the base of each neck causing Ghidorah to scream out in pain and snarl menacingly at Godzilla who was now rapidly closing in once again.

It just wouldn't stop. The mayhem above and around them kept Mark and the others pinned down and unable to move. Every time they tried, Mothra and Rodan would swoop by in their aerial battle with their acrobatics knocking over buildings and sending debris and wind forces flying their way. That, or Godzilla and Ghidorah would clash too close for comfort.

Finally, breaking through the fires nearby, a military jeep screeched to a halt with Emma at the wheel.

"Get in!" She yelled.

A fighter jet trying to help Mothra was struck accidentally by her wing sending it flying into the ground far too close to the group to be safe. Everyone hit the deck, and after it skidded by them, barely missing the jeep, Emma screamed for them again to get in. Loading the injured as fast and safely as they could, they all gathered in the back as Mark took a seat up front.

The jeep streaked down the road at top speed with the sounds of battle raging around them.

"Where's Madison?!" Mark demanded.

"I told her to run home as fast as she could after activating the Orca at the stadium!" She called back over the roaring of the monsters, rain, and thunderous claps of sonic booms from Mothra and Rodan's wing beats and screeching aerial speeds.

Another explosion to the left forced the jeep momentarily off course where it jumped from a pile of rubble and landed unsteadily back on its four wheels.

"We got the Orca back! It's pretty messed up!" Mark called.

"Is it at least in one piece?" She asked.

"Yeah!"

"Good! Then I can fix it later! But we need to get Maddie!"

"That's first sensible thing you've said in a _long_ time, Emma!"

Another explosion, this time to the right.

"Don't you _even_ get started with me, Mark! I tried to talk sense into you far too many times in our relationship for you to _ever_ lecture me on the subject!" She yelled back.

"I will lecture you on your recent actions as much as I want! You sided with a psychopath!"

"And _you_ didn't even _try_ to understand where _I_ was coming from! You only saw who I was working with!"

"I heard what you said just _fine_! Thanks!"

"You heard it, but you didn't care to _understand_ it!"

Godzilla's tail suddenly landed in front of the jeep forcing Emma to slam on the breaks. The jeep screeched to a halt just shy of hitting it as it was lifted up and swept above them while Godzilla tried for another tail whip against Ghidorah who nimbly evaded it and grabbed his arm with two heads while the third blasted Godzilla's face point blank with his lightning attack.

"Go! Go!" Barnes shouted at Emma.

Emma smashed the gas sending the jeep lurching forward.

"Ugh! Dammit Mark! Can we _please_ talk about this later?!" Emma yelled.

"Fine! My thoughts exactly!" Mark yelled back.

Rodan and Mothra screeched in the skies above as Rodan was shoved face first into a building with Mothra's legs pushing against his back between his wings. Mothra shoved further, and Rodan's talons dug into the side of the building as he pushed against her and freed himself. But Mothra blasted the back of his head with silk, pinning his head to the building just like Ghidorah before. And with Rodan temporarily pinned, she leaped away from him and flew towards Godzilla and Ghidorah.

Zooming by beneath Rodan, the entire group suddenly began sweating.

"Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?" Barnes asked.

"No! Something's definitely happening out there!" Emma shouted as the jeep continued racing by.

Above them, the building was melting. Literally. Melting. Rodan's entire body was glowing red/orange like the fiery embers at the base of his wings. A single screech could be heard echoing through the air as steam and shimmering heat waves rose from his body. The webbing around his head burst into flame, and in seconds he ripped his head free of the tangled mess and shoved off from the building sending the entire structure slowly falling to the ground where the top half began flattening out into a pool of molten metal, stone, glass, and burning wood.

Rodan raced through the air after Mothra at top speed, breaking the sound barrier with a thundering sonic boom. Mothra heard it, but turned too late to stop his claws from raking by her as she brought her legs up to protect herself. Her left foreleg was torn off at the joint, causing her to shriek in agony as green-yellow blood spurted forth from the now missing limb. Rodan raced out and arced around, his turn creating another boom as the rain, rapidly evaporating, created a shroud of steam around his body making him harder to see despite the glowing orange-red aura he was producing.

Mothra dove down at the last second, but the tip of her wing was clipped by his claw sending it floating down to the ground.

Despite this, Mothra regained her flight path and landed on top of a building to observe him as he raced around towards her. The steam was beginning to vanish as the aura receded. But he wasn't slowing down. If anything, he sped up even more. He flapped his wings, propelling himself forward towards her, but the boom was delayed almost an entire second after the flap before it thunderously echoed throughout the cityscape.

"What the _hell_!?" Barnes asked.

"Don't worry about it! We're almost there!" Mark shouted as Emma raced the jeep through the still war-torn streets.


	21. Ragnarok!

**Chapter 20**: Ragnarok!

An explosive concussive burst of wind erupted from behind a skyscraper instantly leveling the structure and tearing the roofs off of hundreds of dwellings and small businesses within the blast radius. The impact came as Rodan's claws dug into the earth, having narrowly missed his target who was airborne and gainging distance above him.

Mothra screeched and dove down on top of him with all five of her spike-like legs slamming into Rodan's back as he fought to free himself from the ground. The force drove him onto his stomach, the spike-like ends piercing his flesh causing small spurts of blood to emerge followed by a shriek of pain. Mothra pulled her legs free and raised her right fore leg up high into the air and began to thrust it down as hard as she could.

But Rodan twisted beneath her by folding his left wing down and rolling onto his side and back, throwing Mothra off balance and tumbling to the ground next to him. Using his right wing, he pushed her down flat and pinned her to the ground while continuing to roll until he was now on top of her. One of his claws dug into the base of her abdomen while the other stabilized him above her. Mothra cried in agony as his claws dug deeper and deeper with a horrible _crunch_ sound before she managed to stab his stomach with one of her legs. Rodan hunched forward from the impact and backed off, giving her space to spin and get to her feet and take to the air.

As she did so, her flight path was shaky. She landed on a building and caught her breath, releasing a weakened cry for help as she slumped onto her belly with her legs hanging over the edge.

Rodan, sensing her distress, took to the skies and rose higher and higher into the air before beginning a dive bomb with talons extended ready to slam into her head and back, tearing them apart.

Mothra released another loud cry for help as Rodan grew closer and closer.

Suddenly, a blue burst stream shattered a skyscraper next to the one Mothra perched on and slammed into Rodan stopping him dead in his tracks and sending him hurtling through the air and crashing to the ground on the opposite end of the neighborhood. Godzilla's roar shook the ground, followed by a swift cry of pain from the King of the Monsters as Ghidorah seized the opportunity to strike while he was distracted with helping Mothra.

But Godzilla's blast did much more than just help her. Rodan, despite being bio-volcanic, wasn't prepared for the impact force of the breath weapon and struggled to breathe properly. Mothra, on the other hand, now had time to rest and recuperate while Godzilla continued his battle with the False King.

Speaking of...

The titanic alien leaped high into the air and slammed both feet into Godzilla's chest, knocking him onto his back with four large gashes appearing in his flesh from the impact. Godzilla shrieked in agony as blood poured from all four wounds. And as Ghidorah landed behind him, he lifted both tails, extended the spike-like extensions on each, and slammed them down into Godzilla's gut. The spikes pierced his hide, pushing it in further than it was used to going which resulted in Godzilla gasping and coughing a massive spurt of saliva and blood from his mouth.

The tails were lifted up, and slammed down again with similar results until Godzilla looked up and back and fired his thermonuclear breath into Ghidorah's back knocking him forward and onto his stomach. Godzilla rolled to the side and pushed himself up to his feet with a long and agonized groan. The four gashes on his chest ran deep. One of them deep enough that a tiny sliver of bone from his rib cage had become visible. Blood poured slowly from the wound down his stomach and legs to the ground below. Had anyone been around to collect it, they'd be able to fill several Olympic sized swimming pools with just this recent drip.

Ghidorah struggled to push itself up. Lacking true forelimbs outside of its massive wings, getting up was a clumsy affair. Godzilla, not wasting any time, stomped towards his foe, grabbed both tails, and began pulling on them as hard as he could. Ghidorah's outer two heads turned 180 degrees and fired their lightning blasts into his now gashed chest. Godzilla shrieked in agony, but refused to let go of his enemy. Clenching his jaw tightly, Godzilla snarled against the pain and leaned forward slightly. The two heads stopped their attack as the third came up and its eyes widened.

Godzilla lurched backwards with a sharp turn at the waist, and Ghidorah suddenly was launched backwards as Godzilla threw the massive Titan by the tail over his shoulder. Up high into the air he swung before his massive form struck the Earth with nuclear force. The ground shook for miles as a small crater from the impact force materialized beneath him. Ghidorah's three heads all coughed and gagged, now fighting for breath after that devastating blow.

Godzilla, meanwhile, backed away a few steps and leaned forward to catch his own breath.

But the hits just wouldn't stop coming.

Suddenly, Godzilla felt a massive impact against the back of his head which caught him completely off guard. Rodan had flow above and past his head, flying just low enough to scrape his armored belly against the King's skull knocking him to the ground with a cry of agony and shock. Rodan flapped his wings creating a thunderclap, and his body produced another sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier and flew a straight line away before pulling a tight, high-G turn and diving back down towards Godzilla.

The Alpha looked up towards Rodan with a snarl, his spines flashing an intimidation display as he made it to his feet. Godzilla roared with fury at Rodan, his roar creating a mini shock wave which struck Rodan's body and caused him to hesitate. Rodan flapped his wings to stop himself, hovering in the air and looking down at Godzilla. The King of the Monsters continued flashing his spines and snarling at Rodan, stomping his right foot every so often and growling as Rodan chirped back at him.

"What's going on out there?" Rick asked.

"Dunno. But if I had to guess, I'd say Godzilla's communicating with him." Sam replied.

"Of course. Rodan's responding to Godzilla's Alpha status." Doctor Graham stated.

"But can he convince Rodan to switch sides?" Ilene asked.

"I guess we'll find out... And by the way, we got eight minutes left until he blows." Rick added.

Rodan continued hovering and chirping at Godzilla as the wounded King growled and stomped while flashing his spines. Meanwhile, from within his crater, Ghidorah rose slowly, keeping a low profile as he began sneaking up behind Godzilla. Rodan chirped louder and snarled, and Godzilla's eyes flashed as the sound of his thermonuclear breath charging for real began to pulse through the air. Rodan flapped his wings to gain some distance, but before Godzilla could unleash the blast Ghidorah's center head suddenly lurched forward and wrapped around his neck. The outer heads bit down hard on both of his wrists to hold them in place so he couldn't scratch his way out of it.

Godzilla's spines were a bit of a hindrance, and Ghidorah had to adjust his position to be slightly behind and to the side to avoid getting stuck by them. But once he found his footing he managed to slowly push Godzilla down to the ground while slowly choking the life out of him as Rodan floated in the air watching silently.

"Oh shit!" Rick exclaimed.

"All squadrons! Anyone have ammo left?!" Foster asked.

"Negative! We're all out!" The pilots responded.

"Dammit! We're out too!" Foster growled.

"There must be something we can do! We have to help Gojira!" Serizawa said frantically.

"Wait!" Ilene said.

The others looked to her as her eyes fluttered shut.

"She's on her way." She whispered.

Rodan noticed her too late, and Mothra burst through the clouds at top speed jamming her enormous stinger into Ghidorah's back at full force. The impact caved in the musculature between his wings and a massive spurt of brown-red blood erupted from the wound as all three of Ghidorah's heads opened their mouths to shriek in pain and release Godzilla. Mothra pushed her stinger in as deep as she could and her abdomen began to pulse as she released a potent venom into his body.

Rodan began a dive to help Ghidorah, but Mothra's quick thinking allowed her to pull free and leap away causing Rodan to slam into Ghidorah instead as she gained distance and circled around for another pass. Ghidorah's left head bit Rodan's neck and threw him off of himself as Mothra came around, slamming the side of her front leg into Ghidorah's center head and causing it to whiplash into the ground. Thrown for a loop, the center head's eyes rolled and fluttered a moment before closing... Out cold.

The other two heads roared in anger as Ghidorah stood up and spread its wings. But it couldn't do so fully. The musculature between the wings was still damaged, and it could only open them to around shoulder level before the pain became unbearable. As well, Mothra's venom was having an effect as well and causing the flesh and scales to begin graying and decaying.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"It's a hemotoxin." Doctor Graham replied. "Hemotoxins affect both blood and soft tissues like skin and muscle." She continued.

"Cool! I didn't know she could do that!" Rick cheered.

Ghidorah's two heads growled as the third hung limp and unconscious in front of the body. The other two began charging their attack as Rodan made it to his feet and hopped out of the way. But before the blast could be released, Ghidorah was struck in the side by Godzilla's thermonuclear breath and he toppled over into a building while Rodan took to the skies.

Godzilla's breathing was labored and strained. The pain in his chest from the gashes and his fatigue setting in were both taking their toll as he used a building to support himself as he stood. Mothra landed next to him, chirping at him as he looked down at her. A few chirps later, and Mothra took to the air and gave chase against Rodan to keep him distracted while Godzilla snarled and marched towards Ghidorah.

"Damn those guys are tough!" Rick said.

"No kidding. Those gashes have to be burning right now." Sam added.

"Mothra's wounds are significant as well. She's struggling to stay airborne." Ilene observed.

Sure enough, Mothra was struggling to stay with Rodan as he continued to increase his speed and left her in the dust. The damaged leg, damaged abdomen, and the missing wing tip were begging to take a toll on her just as Godzilla's wounds were taking on him. Mothra was forced to give up the chase and circled down to land on a building to wait. But when she looked up, Rodan was gone.

Mothra remained as still as possible, waiting for Rodan to reveal himself. She could hear his screeches, but the skyscrapers around her made it hard to pinpoint where they were coming from. Finally, the clouds broke as Rodan dove down at Mothra at full speed, breaking the sound barrier.

But as the world went silent as he raced ahead of the sound he created, a blinding flash of light enveloped his vision and momentarily blinded him. Shutting his eyes and screeching in pain, Rodan suddenly turned and slammed into a building and crashed to the ground skidding along the cityscape for hundreds of meters before coming to a halt. Rodan's eyes opened slightly, but shut again immediately as his sensitivity to light had dramatically increased since the flash.

Mothra's body slowly lost the glow as she looked at Rodan and shook her head with a satisfied chirp, but a roar from Godzilla drew her attention the other way.

Godzilla's throat was locked in a vice grip from one head as the other bit deep into his shoulder. He managed to dig his claws into the neck of the one biting him, but it wasn't letting go. The other head let go of his shoulder, rose up above him, and its neck and eyes began flashing and glowing. Try as he might, Godzilla couldn't free himself. Ghidorah's head opened its mouth wide with a roar and leaned back, preparing its blast... And blast it did.

The lighting blast struck Godzilla directly between the eyes and point blank range resulting in the highest pitched shriek Godzilla had ever released. Ghidorah continued to release that blast into the face of the helpless King until Mothra finally arrived. She spewed her silk at the head and managed to force its mouth shut as well as covered its eyes. The other head let go of Godzilla just long enough to blast Mothra in the back between the wings before looking back at Godzilla and clamping down onto his throat once again.

Mothra hit a building and fell to the ground, stumbling to get up with her one leg missing. Ghidorah's head she wrapped used its lightning blast to melt away her silk and free itself, snapping its jaws at her with a snarl before looking back at Godzilla who was quickly going limp and beginning to slump to the ground.

The head biting his throat let go as Godzilla hit the ground... And proceeded to be enveloped by a blue burst stream as Godzilla suddenly unleashed his thermonuclear breath point blank throwing the head backwards and making it hit its body in the back. Ghidorah staggered back, its other head trying to blast him as he stood up, but Godzilla powered through and released another massive burst stream into Ghidorah's chest forcing him backwards. Ghidorah's claws dug into the ground to try and slow his slide, but it didn't do much good.

Godzilla stopped the burst stream just in time for Mothra to take to the air again and sting Ghidorah in the mid back before flying off as fast as she could. But as she gained some distance an orange glow behind her made her turn in mid air as Rodan slammed his talons into the center of her abdomen and smashed her into a building. Mothra shrieked in agonizing pain as green-yellow blood erupted from both her now half-crushed abdomen and her mouth onto Rodan's chest as he breathed heavily with a snarl of deadly intent etched in his face. Rodan reared back and jammed his beak into Mothra's upper-mid thorax resulting in another shriek of agony.

Back on the Argo, Ilene stumbled and fell to the ground clutching her heart with a loud gasp.

"Ilene!" Serizawa exclaimed, rushing to her side.

Everyone gathered around to help Ilene to her feet as Serizawa helped her sit down.

"Ilene, talk to me! What happened?" He asked.

She could only gasp through ragged, deep breaths as if she'd just had the wind knocked from her lungs.

"Oh god... Mothra." Graham said quietly.

Everyone looked at the screen and saw the devastating predicament she was in. Talons embedded in her abdomen, half crushing it, and a beak in her upper-mid thorax. Green-yellow blood oozing from the wounds and from the corners of her mouth as she released shriek after shriek with Rodan holding his beak in place and trying to push through.

"Please... Help her." Ilene begged through a gasp as she watched the screen.

"Ilene. Don't worry. It will be all right." Serizawa cooed, stroking her hair.

"It will be all right... She's not alone." He said firmly as he glared at the screen.

Rodan never saw it coming.

He was ripped away from Mothra by Godzilla's mighty claws and slammed into the ground on his back. Godzilla's right claw held his shoulder while his left claw pushed against Rodan's stomach. Godzilla's eyes and spines flashed, and he unleashed a powerful burst stream directly beside Rodan's head. The burst stream ended, and Godzilla huffed a forceful snarl through his nose as Rodan trembled in fear beneath him.

Godzilla pushed Rodan into the ground a bit further and stood up, snarling and growling as he continued flashing his spines. Rodan slowly relaxed against the ground and turned his head away to the side.

"What's he doing?" Rick asked.

"He's submitting." Serizawa said.

"So Godzilla just beat him?" Sam asked.

"No. But he showed Rodan he is capable of killing him... But won't." Serizawa stated proudly.

"Thank you." Ilene whispered as she looked at another screen.

Mothra had fallen to the ground off the building she'd been pinned to. Blood pooled around her body as her eyes fluttered half shut. Her abdomen was still crushed, and she was struggling to breathe properly.

Godzilla approached her cautiously, leaning down slowly as he released a soft growl. Mothra chirped weakly, and following it her head hit the ground. She was still breathing, but only just.

"She can't fight anymore." Ilene sobbed, sniffing back against her tears.

The roar of Ghidorah echoed through the air, and Godzilla snarled viciously as he slowly turned towards his alien nemesis.


	22. Cry Of A Goddess

**Chapter 21**: The Cry Of A Goddess

Screeching to a halt, Emma's jeep pulled up in front of the pile of rubble where the Russel family home used to be. Mark threw open the door causing it to snap from the hinge and hang loosely as he leaped from the vehicle and sprinted towards the ruins.

"Maddie!" He shrieked.

Mark slipped in a slick mud patch, slamming his arm into the ground and feeling a pop and a zing of pain in his through through his mid back. Groaning and grimacing, he forced himself to his feet as Emma rushed to his side to help him up while the soldiers checked the area.

"Help them look! I'm fine!" He ordered.

Emma dashed into the ruins shouting for Maddie as Mark lay on his back in the mud, rain pelting his face, as he gripped his injured shoulder as he listened to the soldiers and Emma's shouts.

"Maddie! Where are you?!" Emma cried.

Suddenly, a flash of light brought Mark back to their cabin in the woods. He was standing on the front steps, looking out at the lake beyond the trees. He heard laughter to his right, and when he looked he saw himself chasing a young Andrew and Maddie around and around the largest tree in the forest which happened to be just a stone's throw away from the cabin.

"Maddie! Where are you?" He heard Emma shout from behind him.

Mark turned around to see Emma emerge from the door and walk past him as if he weren't there.

"Hey, Maddie! Come here! I need to talk to you!" She called with a wave and a smile.

Mark looked out towards himself and the kids, and saw himself shoo Maddie away to talk to Emma while he continued to chase Andrew around the tree.

Another flash, and he was inside the living room, and he instantly remembered what it was about.

"Maddie. Tell the truth, sweetheart." He watched himself say to her as she sat on his lap with a semi-angry and guilty face.

"Maddie. It's okay, baby. Just tell me the truth. Did you break the chime?" Emma asked softly.

Maddie fervently shook her head and buried it in Mark's chest, gripping his shirt tightly. Mark smiled and gently rubbed her back.

"It's okay if you did, sweetie. We're not mad at you." He cooed.

"I didn't do it!" She cried.

Andrew, sitting next to Emma's hip, rubbed his hands together and looked down and away while Emma rubbed his shoulder.

"Andrew?" Mark asked.

He couldn't make eye contact. Emma smiled and pat his back.

"Andy. Did you accidentally break the chime?" She asked.

He only let out a frustrated breath.

"Hey, don't worry about it big guy. It's just a chime. We can get a new one." Mark assured.

Andrew shook his head.

"I didn't break it." He said.

Mark and Emma looked to each other, not knowing which child to believe.

"So if Maddie didn't break it, and you didn't break it. Do you know who did?" Mark asked calmly, still rubbing Maddie's back as she peeked out of the corner of her eye to look at Andrew.

"Yeah. It was a bird." Andrew said.

"A bird?" Emma asked.

He nodded.

"It was pecking at Maddie, so I threw a rock at it. It flew away and smashed into the chime and knocked it down." Andrew replied.

Emma and Mark seemed to share a moment of understanding as they looked to each other with an "aaaahhhh..." kind of face, mouths slightly agape before nodding to one another.

"I guess that explains the feathers next to the swing, then." Mark said.

Andrew nodded, still not making eye contact.

"It's okay, Andy." Emma said, giving him a hug and a kiss. "I'm sure that neither you nor the bird meant to do that, right?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"Well hey, that gives us an excuse to go buy an even BIGGER chime!" Mark stated happily as he picked Maddie up and held her aloft, much to her growing delight.

"Yeah. What do you say Andrew? Want to help us shop for a better chime tomorrow?" Emma asked, giving him a reassuring side hug.

Andrew chuckled and nodded while Maddie cheered at being held up by her father. And as Mark himself watched this scene and conversation unfold, he looked at Andrew and noticed for the first time his discomfort. And now, he understood why the discomfort was there.

Andrew said he'd thrown a rock at the bird and it flew off towards the chime. There were feathers by the swing set, meaning he didn't just throw the rock at the bird. He got a direct hit. Mark had spotted a dead bird not far from the cabin the next morning as they were driving away, but back then he hadn't registered what it meant. He thought it was a simple case of predation or poor health which took its life. But now he understood after remembering Andrew's face.

Andrew killed the bird by accident while trying to protect Maddie...

A flash of golden lightning snapped Mark back to reality. He grimaced as he forced himself to stand and plodded through the mud towards the wreckage of their home as he and the others searched for Maddie.

Mark pushed over every slate of wall and flooring he could, aided by Barnes and one other soldier while the rest combed the area with Emma to see if Maddie hadn't gotten away from the house.

"Madison!" Mark shouted.

"Sir! Over here!" Martinez called.

Mark saw what looked like a hand hanging over the edge of the bathtub which had previously been on the second floor, and a massive slab of roofing partially covering it. Mark sprinted over as best he could and helped the team lift the roofing while Barnes called Emma and the others over for backup. Together, they all managed to lift and throw the roof to the side revealing Madison's body inside the tub, her eyes closed and her chest still and stone.

Mark, despite his wounded arm, lifted Maddie carefully out of the tub.

"Maddie!" He yelled, sitting down and cradling her across his lap as he held her head.

"Madison!" Emma shrieked as she slid to a stop and knelt beside Mark, grabbing Maddie's hand and holding it tightly in her own.

Maddie wasn't breathing.

"Maddie!" Mark shouted, trying to shake her awake.

Maddie? Baby! Can you hear me?!" Emma cried, kissing Maddie's hand.

"Get the defibrilator!" Barnes shouted.

"It was in the chopper when it was destroyed, sir!" Martinez replied.

"Dammit!" Barnes exclaimed.

Mark continued trying to shake Maddie awake, to no avail.

"Maddie! Oh, God. Maddie! Wake up baby! Please!" He begged, holding her head against the side of his face and gently rocking forward and back.

"Please baby girl. Please wake up! Daddy's here! Wake up!" He pleaded.

Emma wept bitterly beside Mark, still holding Maddie's hand as the soldiers all stood up and backed off to give the pair space.

"Please, not again. Please, God. Not again. Don't take my baby girl from me. Please!" Mark begged.

Suddenly, a slab of debris fell to the ground just fifty meters away. The soldiers all brought weapons up to see what it was, and the entire group was shocked to see Mothra crawling across the ground.

"Hold fire!" Barnes shouted, lowering his weapon while the others did the same.

Emma looked to Mothra, shaking Mark and trying to get him to look at her. But Mark wouldn't stop cradling and rocking with Maddie.

Mothra let out a slow, soft, pained whimper of a cry as she looked down at the humans gathered before her while a roar from Godzilla in the background briefly diverted her attention. As the roar died away and a flash of blue light lit the skies, Mothra looked back towards the humans as they all stared up in wonder as she got just a little bit closer.

"Mark!" Emma shouted, shaking him violently.

"What?!" He cried.

Emma turned his head to see Mothra, who was staring directly at him.

Mark then remembered Ilene telling him, "_Myth is our compass._" He wasn't much for myths, but he _did _know that some deities were capable of interfering with the process of death. It wasn't much, but it was the only hope he had left.

Mark stood up, carrying Maddie in his arms as he approached Mothra whose giant blue eyes tracked him every step of the way.

Pausing before her, Mark held Maddie close to his chest and fell to his knees.

"Please..." He said quietly.

"I don't know if you can understand me, or even if you care. But please, if there's anything you can do for my baby girl. I beg you to do it." He whimpered, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Mothra let out a small warble, and looked up slightly more towards Emma.

Emma remained silent, but as Mark observed her head tilt ever so slightly, he realized she was remembering something. Mothra looked back to Madison in Mark's arms and leaned forward gently. The closer she got, the faster Mark's heart pounded in his chest. Mothra was so, so close. If Mark just reached out a hand he could touch her. Emma walked up beside him, and took Maddie's hand and held it out as Mothra inched closer.

Connection.

Maddie's hand lay flat against Mothra's lower jaw as Emma held it out, and Mothra again let out a soft warble.

The sound of the rain began to fade. The pounding of his heart now the only thing filling his ears. As he looked down at Maddie's face, Mark leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"Come on, baby girl." Emma urged quietly.

As Emma's voice seemed to be reverberating through the area, Mark slowly heard music begin to fill the void left by the rain. It was the same music he heard before when she appeared in the skies above Castle Bravo while glowing like the sun. A soft, soothing melody filled the air, and Mothra's wings began to shine as glowing specks of energy seemed to rise out of them.

Mothra looked down at Maddie and chirped. And after receiving no response, the music grew louder and her wings glowed brighter as she lifted her head skywards and let out a much more powerful shriek. An instant later, Maddie's eyes shot open as she suddenly took in a huge gasp of air before entering a coughing fit while the sounds of the world flooded back into their ears like a tsunami.

Mark and Emma instantly collapsed to the ground, hugging Madison as tightly as possible while she coughed up a small amount of water and hugged them back.

The soldiers all looked at the family, and then to Mothra who lowered her head and seemed to be panting from exhausting.

"What the hell..." Asked one soldier.

"Never underestimate a Titan, man." Barnes said, shaking his head with a smile.

But before the group could celebrate further, a high pitched shriek from Godzilla caught their ears. And slowly, they all turned around to look towards the ongoing battle between the Alpha and the False King.


	23. Power Beyond This World!

**Chapter 22**: Power Beyond This World!

A single stomp shattered the asphalt in the street and crushed the concrete sidewalks underfoot as Godzilla stumbled backwards following a massive surprise dual-tail whip from Ghidorah. His arms shot out to the sides to try and break his fall, but his massive claws shredded the buildings and he tumbled to the ground onto his side.

Ghidorah stood tall and spread his wings with a mighty roar as all three heads snarled and hissed at Godzilla who slowly pushed himself to his feet.

Be it arrogance or confidence was anyone's guess, but Ghidorah remained stationary and gave Godzilla all the time he needed to catch his breath and turn around to continue the fight. Godzilla took a deep breath and let fire with his thermonuclear breath, but Ghidorah simply lurched its center head out of the way as Godzilla closed his mouth. The three heads hissed and cackled at Godzilla, taunting him as their two tails shook behind them like rattlesnake tails with all spikes extended out.

Godzilla snarled and roared in anger, his spines flashing brightly as he began a charge towards Ghidorah. The False King stood his ground, and as Godzilla reached him all three heads lunged forward and slammed the tops of their heads into Godzilla's chest. The impact caused a shock wave, and Godzilla stumbled back letting out gasped breaths, as if coughing. Ghidorah cackled again, flapping his wings at his opponent and blowing all of the rain that fell before him onto Godzilla.

The Alpha Predator took a few steps back and shielded his face from the winds producing by Ghidorah's wings and roared angrily. As the flapping came to a stop, Godzilla threw his arm to the side and snarled as Ghidorah continued cackling at him. Godzilla's spines flashed violently, as did his eyes. But Ghidorah was not impressed.

But then, Godzilla let out a roar which produced a shock wave that struck Ghidorah's body. It didn't damage him, but it made the cackling stop as the three heads looked at one another wondering what he'd just done. Not two seconds later a screech came from above as Rodan pierced the cloud layer like a burgundy bullet and slammed his talons into Ghidorah's back just below the wings. Ghidorah screamed in agony as Rodan buried his beak into the flesh just below the point where the necks connected to the torso producing a spurt of brown-red blood.

Godzilla charged his thermonuclear breath, and let fly into Ghidorah's chest which caused the creature to roar out again in pain. The two outer heads turned around and blasted Rodan with lightning forcing him off of his back while the middle head blasted Godzilla in return for the thermonuclear blast. The lightning struck Godzilla's stomach, and had he not been gashed it would have been easy enough to deal with it. But with the gashes still present, the lightning seared his softer flesh beneath his rugged hide and forced him to turn away to protect himself.

Rodan flew up and back, circling overhead like a vulture waiting to dive on a carcass as Ghidorah's outer two heads tracked his every move, mouths agape with the glow flashing along their throats. Rodan began a dive, and as the two heads let fly at him he flapped one wing and rolled to the side to avoid the blasts before slamming his talons into Ghidorah's right wing as they brought it up to defend themselves. The talons tore the thinner layers of flesh, producing four long claw marks through them as they were ripped downwards before Rodan was grabbed by the center and right head and blasted in the side of the head by the left.

The two heads holding him whipped him around in circles before letting go and throwing him into a building which collapsed and buried him under hundreds of tons of rubble.

A flash of blue light to the side made the heads turn, and they were all met by a direct hit from Godzilla's thermonuclear breath and thrown backwards. The breath came to an end, and Godzilla snarled with a huff through his nose producing a puff of steam. However, the three heads slowly came up to full height, slightly singed, but began cackling again as Godzilla's eyes widened slightly.

"Whoa. What happened? That shouldn't knocked them off their feet, right?" Sam asked.

"It's his breath. It's losing its potency!" Doctor Graham called.

"No kidding. Godzilla's radiation levels are still critical, but a secondary scan shows his tank's running on empty." Rick shouted, displaying the readings on the screen.

"Wait. Isn't his radiation level how he charges the breath?" Sam asked.

"Not entirely." Doctor Graham stated. "Godzilla's body uses radiation as a fuel source, yes. But his body also has its limits. He can only process so much radiation at once before his body runs dry. The radiation we're seeing that indicate an explosion is radiation that's running unchecked throughout his body and not actually being used for his other natural processes." She continued.

"It's a bad plumbing leak, basically. All that radiation we're seeing is water that's escaped the piping while a little bit manages to keep flowing before it runs dry. And once that happens, all we're left with is the water damage afterwards. But in this case the water is volatile nuclear waste that's primed to blow." Rick added.

"Oh... Great." Sam stated as he looked at the screens.

"All ships! Give Godzilla some cover! Get all three of that freak's heads' attention!" Foster called.

"_Copy that._" A pilot replied.

All remaining squadrons immediately formed up and circled around as they began a strafing run of attacks against Ghidorah. The explosions of their missiles barely did more than irritate him, but Ghidorah let them continue as Godzilla stomped towards him ready to continue.

"Damn that lizard's tough! I love it!" Rick shouted.

Godzilla and Ghidorah collided as missiles weaved in and out of the space between them and struck Ghidorah's body while Godzilla continued swiping with claws and aiming to bite the necks whenever they came close enough. The distractions from the planes and Godzilla's onslaught were starting to drive him back. But as Godzilla pinned two heads to a building, the third looked to a nearby power plant as it sparked and cracked in the rain before biting it. Godzilla looked down too late to stop it, and Ghidorah's body began letting off stray sparks of lighting which hit Godzilla and forced him to take a couple steps back. A few bolts connected from Ghidorah to the clouds, and as he threw his wings open he unleashed an almighty burst of electrical energy into the skies.

All of the fighters within a certain range were instantly wiped out while Godzilla was seared all across his body with the supercharged attack. He staggered back, slamming his claws into a building for stability as a freshly opened gash across his left brow and cheek, just barely missing his eyeball, now sizzled and let off steam in the cold rain.

"Dammit! All remaining craft, retreat!" Foster called, not willing to risk another life.

The planes all fled the field, including the Argo, leaving Godzilla alone to face this menace as he took deep, desperate breaths in a bid to recover. Rodan had since recovered and he arrived once again to help, but Ghidorah's counterattack left Rodan incapacitated as a building was demolished by Ghidorah's tails at the base causing it all to fall directly onto Rodan's head. His wings went still against the ground, but the subtle rise and fall of his chest indicated life.

Ghidorah returned full attention to Godzilla who was still struggling to breathe, and all three heads began cackling and shaking themselves at him.

Godzilla snarled, trying hard to get one last breath out. But the flashing in his spines had died away, and had become little more than a weak flickering.

"Oh no..." Serizawa stated quietly.

"He's out of power." Doctor Graham whispered.

"His tank's empty, but the leakage is beyond critical! We got three minutes!" Rick shouted as a "WARNING" sign appeared on all monitors.

Ghidorah, roaring at the weakened Godzilla, leaped high into the air and slammed its feet into his face and stomach. The one on his face wrapped its claws around his head, clamping his mouth shut as the claws on the other foot dug into Godzilla's hide while the tails wrapped around his lower mid-section. With a single mighty flap which produced a sonic boom, Ghidorah lifted Godzilla into the air and began to ascend. Higher and higher and higher into the skies Ghidorah flew with Godzilla while one head had since come down to wrap around his neck and choke him out until he lost the strength to struggle.

Reaching the peak of his ascent, Ghidorah's three heads looked down at Godzilla. The Alpha Predator slowly opened his eyes and snarled, leading to a sinister hiss... As both feet and tails suddenly let go.

The world went quiet to Godzilla as he began a rapid and uncontrolled descent towards the Earth below. Reaching terminal velocity, his body ignited with flames produced by the enormous friction generated by his massive bulk colliding with the atmosphere and all elements present within. Down, down, down the fiery form of Godzilla fell like a giant meteorite with all down below watching in horror and with bated breath as the mighty Titan struck the Earth producing a massive concussive shock wave that shattered buildings within several hundred meters of his impact zone. The burst also blew back the rain for several seconds, giving the world a few seconds respite before it all came falling back down.

A subtle electric glitch sizzled through the Argo's feeds before it corrected itself.

"Oh God..." Doctor Graham whispered.

"... Gojira..." Serizawa whispered in awe.

Everyone on board the Argo held their breath as the smoke cleared, revealing Godzilla lying still in a massive crater.

Rodan had awoken and freed himself from the rubble, but was too weak to rejoin the fight as he limped to a safe place on the edge of the battlefield and slumped to the ground on his stomach. Ghidorah, meanwhile, landed at the edge of the crater looking down at the once proud Alpha Predator as his eyes fluttered halfway open, accompanied by the weak sounds of breathing and subtle puffs of steam from his nose.

"He's still alive." Sam said quietly.

"Barely." Rick replied halfheartedly.

Ghidorah's three heads cackled loudly as he flared his wings as if declaring his victory.


	24. Desperation!

**Chapter 23**: Desperation!

The collected mood had darkened considerably. With Godzilla lying in a heap at the center of a deep crater, Ghidorah cackling down at him from the upper edge, Mothra on her last legs, and Rodan having retreated to the edge of the battlefield to recuperate, the future of this battle now seemed a foregone conclusion.

"Anyone got any idea?" Barnes asked.

"Nah, man." A soldier replied.

"Mark, maybe we can do something?" Emma said, tugging his arm.

"And what exactly can we do against _that_ thing?" He asked.

Emma rolled her eyes.

"If we can get the Orca working again, we can at least distract it for a few minutes and give Godzilla some time to get back in the fight." She replied.

"Wait. You _want_ to get that thing's attention? What about Maddie?" Mark retorted.

"Dad! Don't treat me like a helpless kid!"

"But-"

"Mark. Listen. We _need_ Godzilla back on his feet. He's our best chance to survive this."

"Oh, sure. Let's just get Ghidorah's attention and have him come eat us as a distraction!"

"Will you stop it?!"

"Stop what, Emma?"

"Stop acting like I haven't thought this through! You think I want my daughter to be put in danger?!"

"You didn't seem to have any problems with it until now!"

Emma's jaw dropped, as did Maddie's. Barnes was about to break them up when a gunshot resounded and caused a soldier to drop to the ground. Maddie screamed as her mother shielded her eyes and Mark stepped in front of both of them on instinct as Jonah and his minions encircled the group with weapons drawn.

"Drop your weapons, gentlemen." Jonah said calmly to Barnes and the others.

"You first, big man." Barnes retorted.

Jonah shook his head.

"That's not how this works. We've got more men, and more guns. We give the orders. Now drop your weapons."

Jonah's men all took a half step forward and placed their fingers over the triggers. Barnes and his men glanced to one another and slowly put their weapons down. Once they were disarmed, Jonah waved his hand and his men retrieved the dropped weapons and herded Barnes and the others to the side in a line while Jonah approached the Russel family.

"Welcome to hell, everyone." He announced, gesturing to Ghidorah who was now taking flight and circling above Godzilla, still cackling. Still taunting.

"Monster Zero is going to wipe Godzilla and his two followers from this Earth, and then he's going to set his sights on us. Humanity. The disease that has this beautiful planet in a strangle hold. And once he's done, he'll-"

"Why don't you shut up, already?" Mark interrupted.

Jonah cocked his head to the side slightly.

"You're the one who kidnapped my little girl... Why don't you come a little closer? Settle this like a man instead of a coward with an armed posse? Huh?"

"Mark, what are you doing?" Emma whispered.

Maddie gripped his jacket while Jonah chuckled.

"You seem to be under the impression I have something to prove. Hmph. I'll pass on your challenge. There's something I want you to bear witness to instead."

Jonah pulled out his pistol and took aim at Emma, shooting her in the shoulder causing her to drop the damaged Orca. Maddie instantly rushed to her side in a panic with Mark barely being able to contain himself as he glared daggers at Jonah who stood quietly smirking at him.

"The next one will find your daughter's brain stem if you don't cooperate, mister Russel. Do we understand each other?"

Mark growled angrily through grit teeth as his fists shook at his sides.

"Good. Now then. If you please. The Orca."

"It's broken." Mark retorted.

"It doesn't matter. I just want it out of your hands. Now give it to us."

Another lackey with a gun came up beside Jonah with a hand extended. Mark knelt down slowly and picked up the device, holding it just to the side and out of arm's reach of the lackey.

"Mister Russel. Don't make me repeat myself again." Jonah said, cocking the trigger of the pistol and aiming directly at Maddie.

"All right. All right."

Mark slowly handed the Orca to Jonah's lackey who put it into a metallic box which was then sealed shut and loaded into a van. Half of Jonah's men entered the van and another vehicle, while the rest remained with weapons trained on Barnes and the other soldiers.

"Much obliged, mister Russel."

Jonah put his pistol away, and smirked at Maddie who was glaring daggers at him while her mother gasped for air while putting pressure on her wound. But it was Jonah's smirk at Maddie which caught Emma's attention.

"Jonah." She said calmly.

Jonah looked to her with a smile and lifted his chin.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Do you have family?"

"I don't think that's important."

"I think it _is_."

"Well, you thought wrong. Good day." He said as he turned his back to her.

"You have a daughter, don't you?"

He started walking.

"Or is she dead?"

He paused just short of the van and glanced slowly over his shoulder, and Emma returned his smug smile.

"So that's it. I knew that there had to be something bigger motivating you this whole time. Nobody becomes a radical like you without something having pushed them to the extreme."

He half turned, his lips tightening and a subtle scrunch in his nose.

"Mom. Are you _trying_ to get shot again?" Maddie whispered.

"Obviously she died because of a human being. But how did she die, Jonah?"

He bared his teeth as he spoke.

"I think we're _done_ here, Doctor. You should focus on _living_." He growled as he hopped into the van and hit the dividing window to make the driver take off.

The rest of his men gathered in their vehicle and also drove away, leaving the Russel family and the soldiers wondering what to do.

"So was that the plan?" Barnes asked.

"Not exactly. But it was a start." Emma said.

"A start to what, exactly?" Mark asked.

"Taming a monster." She replied as the combat medic came to attend her wound.

"What do we do now, dad?"

"I don't know, sweetie. But we can't stay here. We're too close to the fight, and-"

Lightning struck the remains of a skyscraper just up the road catching everyone's attention.

"Jesus!" Barnes shouted.

"Come on! Get her in the jeep and let's go!" Shouted another soldier.

Barnes helped the medic load her into the jeep while Mark hopped into the driver's seat with Maddie sitting next to him. Out the window, Ghidorah seemed to be done gloating as he began a descent towards the crater.

"Dad. Isn't there _anything_ we can do to help Godzilla and the others? Can't you contact MONARCH?"

"I wish I could, sweetie. But they have their own personal communication system in place. Special phones and radio frequencies and all that. I don't know the details but I know it's what they do."

"Dammit." Maddie huffed.

A rumbling in the ground signaled Ghidorah's landing in the distance. Maddie turned around and looked at Barnes.

"I can contact them." Barnes said, grabbing his radio.

"MONARCH. This is Sergeant Barnes. Come in!"

Static.

"MONARCH. This is Sergeant Barnes. Come in. Repeat. Come in! Anyone!" He asked forcefully.

The radio flickered to life.

"...elo?...o's...ere?"

"MONARCH? This is Sergeant Barnes! Do you read? Over?"

"...rnes?... an...ar me?"

"You're garbled! Repeat! I say again, repeat!"

"Barnes? Can you hear me?"

"Colonel Foster! I read you!"

"Where are you?"

"Uh..."

He lowered the radio.

"Hey guys? Where are we?"

"East bound heading for the highway. Can they send someone to pick us up?" Mark asked.

"East bound heading for the highway! We'll set off a flare for you!" Barnes relayed.

"Negative. No flares. It'll get that thing's attention!" Foster replied.

"Shit." He muttered.

"Do it anyway, Barnes. Distracting Monster Zero is the plan anyway." Emma said softly.

"You mean Ghidorah? And are you sure doc?" He asked.

"Yes. Anything to keep him away from Godzilla for just a few more minutes. We don't need Foster."

"How are we going to get away from him, Emma?" Mark asked as calmly as he could manage.

"We might not need to, Mark."

"How do you figure that?"

"Monst-... _Ghidorah_, is an apex predator. Right now its target is Godzilla. If we distract it for a moment and it seems nothing but another vehicle driving away it's bound to lose interest sooner than later. We present no threat to it."

"You really think it's going to be that simple?"

"You're the animal expert. You tell me."

"I wouldn't know where to begin with that thing since MONARCH doesn't have any significant data I have easy access to. Ilene's files had some promise but I still-"

"Ilene?" Emma asked.

"Doctor Ilene Chen." Mark corrected. "Anyway, her family's personal files were promising. But I still couldn't learn much about Ghidorah other than what the myths and legends said about him, which wasn't much."

"What _did_ you find, dad?"

"Only that it's a rival to Godzilla and it's an alien."

"Wait, an alien?" Emma asked.

"Oh, yeah. I guess you and Jonah never knew that about him. But we were able to determine that he's not from this world after finding some encrypted files on him buried in Ilene's database."

"So that's why he can cause such a storm when he flies." Emma whispered.

"Yeah. And it's why Godzilla's exhausted his power even though his body's been supercharged by the nuke we used on him."

"You did _what_?" Maddie asked.

"Long story hun. I'll tell you later. Right now," he said, screeching the jeep to a halt. "We've made it to the highway. Barnes, contact Colonel Foster and tell her to look for the flare."

"Copy that." Barnes replied.

Mark grabbed the flare gun and waited outside for Barnes to give the signal. With a single thumbs up from Barnes, Mark launched the flare.

Meanwhile, in the crater...

Ghidorah was pummeling Godzilla with both of his tails. Each hit knocked some wind from the Alpha's lungs, and the blood trickling down his side from the spike-like protrusions on the tails was growing worryingly thick. But then, a small red light caught the attention of Ghidorah's right head. It hissed at the others who both looked over at the light, and the monster proceeded to abandon its beat down of Godzilla to investigate the source of this anomaly.

"He's coming!" Mark cried as he saw the heads appear over the edge of the crater.

He leaped into the jeep and floored it, sending it rocketing down the highway as Ghidorah stopped to observe the light. He didn't even notice the jeep. A hiss, and a single bolt of lightning from its mouth in the direction of the flare seemed to satisfy Ghidorah's desire to kill the light, as it vanished into the gloom.

And then, from behind, Ghidorah's three heads all heard a familiar screech...


	25. Finale - Bow To The King!

**Chapter 24**: Bow To The King!

From behind Godzilla's beaten and battered body flashed a weak light. Two long legs rose up above his arms before gently touching down and lifting Mothra up over his shoulder as she pulled herself up on top of him. Godzilla's eye fluttered open and slid to the corners of their sockets as he turned his head to see. Mothra pushed her body up a bit higher and let out a screech, and Godzilla's head gently lay back down on the ground.

Ghidorah then appeared over the edge of the crater, hissing and cackling down at the two wounded creatures beneath him.

Mothra looked up at Ghidorah and screeched angrily, to which his central head responded by launching a lightning blast down next to Godzilla's head. Mothra's head snapped towards the bolt, watching Godzilla as he snarled pitifully... Still trying to prove he was in the fight.

Mothra slowly looked up at Ghidorah who continued hissing and cackling at both of them. The center head suddenly nipped at the left with some kind of argument seeming to break out between them. Mothra watched warily as the right head ignored the other two in favor of snarling down at her and seeming to charge his own lightning blast. Mothra's body quivered slightly as she anticipated taking the hit, and...

A sonic boom off to Mothra's left caught her attention, as well as the right head of Ghidorah. Rodan zoomed into view while slamming into Ghidorah at full speed knocking the gigantic three headed colossus clear off his feet and sending both of them skidding across the ground for over three hundred meters. Rodan hit a cluster of homes which slowed him down, and Ghidorah slid into the remains of what was left of one of the damaged skyscrapers which then fell on top of him and buried him beneath hundreds of tons of rubble.

Mothra warbled softly as she lowered her head and laid down on top of Godzilla with her wings spreading out over his body.

Back on the Argo, everyone watched with dreaded expressions.

"Hey, what's she doing?" Rick asked.

Ilene was a river of tears, watching silently with hands clasped in front of her chest as she shut her eyes tightly.

"She's dying." She whimpered.

"Wait, what?" Rick asked.

Serizawa dipped his head, eyes shut tight along with his lips as he fought against the pain of seeing the mighty Mothra reduced to this. Doctor Graham put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him while everyone else watched in silence.

Ghidorah burst forth from beneath the rubble, throwing it for hundreds upon hundreds of meters in all directions as all three heads roared angrily. Light pumped through all three throats as they all unleashed their attack everywhere, not caring where the attacks landed. What was left of all the buildings in his vicinity were completely leveled, and Rodan was also struck by the blasts several times as they continued turning their heads on a continuous assault. With his body seared where the attacks trailed across his wings and torso, Rodan growled weakly, but did not rise.

Ghidorah stopped his attack at last, and all three heads looked to one another with deadly snarls as all three slowly looked directly at Rodan. The proud Fire Demon almost seemed to sneer at them as his cheeks rose slightly pulling the corners of his beak upwards a bit, and Ghidorah's heads did _not_ take kindly to the expression. Ghidorah stomped over towards Rodan slowly, deliberately letting his thunderous footsteps herald the fate which was coming for Rodan who closed his eyes, still sporting that sneer.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Ghidorah paused over Rodan, glaring down at him. Rodan's eyes stayed closed and the corners of his mouth were still turned up. Ghidorah roared down at him angrily, flaring his wings and slamming both tails into the ground behind himself. Rodan didn't respond. Ghidorah hissed loudly and blasted the ground next to Rodan's head in a similar fashion to how Godzilla had earlier in the fight. But again, Rodan refused to respond. He only continued to sneer with his eyes closed.

Ghidorah had finally had enough of his insolence. The two outer heads grabbed Rodan's wings close to the shoulder and lifted him off the ground as the center head lunged forward and clamped down on Rodan's throat. The Fire Demon's eyes shot open as he choked and gagged against the vice-grip around his airway. His legs attempted to lash out and slash with their talons, but Ghidorah held him far enough away that he couldn't reach.

Mothra lifted her head as she heard the struggle unfold. She couldn't get up. She couldn't fly. All she could do was screech worriedly as Rodan's choked cries grew quieter and the sounds of his thrashing began to fade. She looked down towards Godzilla, who was still laying down in total exhaustion with no signs of getting up any time soon. However...

A spark from Godzilla's spines caught her attention. She felt it against her abdomen, and saw a faint blue glow beginning to arise within them.

Warning alarms began blaring inside the Argo as Godzilla appeared on all monitors throughout the ship.

"Shit! We got one minute!" Rick shouted.

"We gotta get out of here!" Sam cried.

"Not yet! Did you find them?" Foster demanded.

"Yes, ma'am! They're just ahead, and we're preparing to touch down!" Shouted a crew member.

Down on the highway, Mark and the others watched and waited for the Argo to descend low enough against the highway to extend its lower bay doors for them to board. Emma's shoulder had been patched up and her arm was in a sling with Maddie helping her stand.

"Dad. What do we do when we get on board?"

"Strap yourself in and keep an eye on your mother."

"Okay."

Suddenly, a van raced up next to the group. And out stepped Jonah. The soldiers pointed their weapons at him, and Mark put himself between him and the others.

"What the hell do you want now?!" Mark shouted.

"I've come for the good Doctor." Jonah replied.

"You think we're just going to let her go with you?" Mark retorted.

"You will if you want her to stop Monster Zero." He said.

"Wait, what?" Mark asked.

"Look. Do we really have time to argue about this? What do you think, Doctor?"

Emma walked up beside Mark and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Mark, it's okay. He's right."

"What?!" Mark yelled.

"Mark, there's no time. Get Maddie to safety. The Orca can do more than you know, and it's the only thing that will save Godzilla and the other Titans from Ghidorah."

"You-" He began, but suddenly cut himself off as the Argo descended and opened its bay doors.

Serizawa was waiting for them, urging them to quickly get on board.

"Goodbye, Mark... Take care of yourself. And watch over Maddie for me." Emma said, cupping his cheek in her hand and giving him a light pat.

Maddie tried to walk towards her, but Mark grabbed her carefully and held her back.

"Bye, Maddie. Be good for your father, okay?" She said, doing the same for Maddie she had for Mark.

Maddie was too shaken by the sudden decision to say anything. All she could do was shake her head "no" and cry as her father helped her board the Argo with the others. Once they were all on board, the Argo rose into the air with Serizawa giving Emma a solemn glance as the bay doors closed and the Argo flew away.

"Doctor?"

"Yes. Let's go."

Boarding the van with the Orca in hand, she sat in the back and opened it.

"You fixed it?"

"We don't know how it works, but we know our way around electronic equipment and splicing broken wires." Jonah replied.

"What made you change your mind?" She asked.

Jonah was silent, and looked ahead as Ghidorah appeared in the field of view of the van.

"It was your daughter, wasn't it?" Emma asked quietly.

Jonah slowly turned his head, lips tight.

"She wouldn't have wanted you to just abandon everything for Ghidorah, would she?" Emma asked.

Jonah looked ahead in silence.

"Seems you're more one of us than you'd like to believe." She teased.

"One more word and I'll throw you out the door and you'll have to fend for yourself."

Emma chuckled and fired up the Orca, the display flickering to life as she searched for the function she needed.

"So what do you have planned?" Jonah asked.

"You don't know?"

"Answer my question, Doctor."

"Funny that you'd come back to get me without knowing my plan."

"Last chance, Doctor."

"Fine, fine. The Orca has one last function, but it's one that's going to get us killed."

"Pardon?"

"You heard me. I have one specialized frequency in here that will drive Ghidorah absolutely insane. But it will also attract him. So-"

"Say no more. We'll drop you off somewhere out here so you can distract him as needed."

"... Fair enough."

"You're just going to accept that?"

"... I've made a lot of mistakes, but this won't be one of them. And I've made peace with this decision."

"Very well, Doctor. I admire your courage."

"Thank you."

"This is close enough."

The van stopped, and Emma opened the door and stepped outside while setting the Orca down.

"God speed, Doctor. I don't care what happens to humanity in the end... But you're right that my daughter wouldn't want Monster Zero, of all things, to be the one to give this world back to nature."

Emma nodded, and Jonah and the others sped away while she sat down and let her finger hover over the "Activate" button.

Ghidorah had since thrown Rodan to the ground, stomping on his stomach and blasting his chest and neck point blank causing obscene amounts of damage to his hide and searing his left shoulder through to the bone. And with that done, he went back to the crater and looked down at the two weakened Titans within. The three heads snarled and hissed, no longer content to taunt as they observed carefully. Mothra's wings covered Godzilla's body, and her head slowly lifted up towards Ghidorah as she let out a soft screech.

Ghidorah's three heads all began charging their lightning blasts, and Mothra pulled herself a little further forward and over Godzilla as she lifted her wings and spread them more evenly over his body. Godzilla growled weakly, trying to use his left arm to lift Mothra off of him and to the side. But Mothra refused to be moved as she adjusted to his squirming and continued holding herself over him.

Ghidorah let fly with all three blasts, and the world fell silent.

Back on the Argo, Ilene dropped to her hands and knees.

"Noooo!" She shrieked.

Godzilla's anguished groaning also filled the world in the absence of all other sounds, and the three bolts grew closer and closer in the reflection of Mothra's determined eyes as she lowered her head down.

As she did so, time seemed to stand still. Emma. Jonah. Mark and Maddie. Serizawa. Graham. Sam. Rick. Ilene. Foster. Barnes. Everyone on board the Argo as it raced away all felt it. That soothing, beautiful tribal music filling their hearts and minds in the absence of time as Mothra looked up and let out one final screech of defiance.

Time regained its hold, and the blasts slammed into Mothra's body causing a massive golden light to envelop her and the surrounding area making it impossible to see what was happening. One final screech from the proud queen of the skies filled the air as an explosion erupted from and banished the light of Ghidorah's attack. And in the place of Mothra was nothing but a floating aurora which slowly sunk down and landed on Godzilla, seemingly being absorbed into his body. And where it entered, a red light briefly flashed through the gaps in his scaly hide.

Ghidorah roared in triumph as the rest of the spectators were left gasping and in tears.

Godzilla groaned loudly, and Ghidorah immediately descended into the crater, heads almost slithering like snakes over the ground as he did so until he reached Godzilla and started biting him and seemingly sucking the energy from his body. With each bite, the red lights within Godzilla entered Ghidorah's mouths and flashed along their throats down to the torso.

"Oh no." Rick said.

"What is it?" Foster asked.

"The sensors seem to have malfunctioned or something. I can't get a read on Godzilla's radiation levels anymore." Rick replied.

"What's that mean?" Foster asked.

"I don't know!" Rick replied forcefully.

"Whatever. Just get us out of here!" Foster yelled.

The Argo fired up the afterburners and raced away as Ghidorah continued sucking the life out of Godzilla.

However, after a moment Ghidorah suddenly let go and his three heads shook violently, hissing and screeching, as something almost seemed to be attacking him. Emma, sitting with the Orca, had activated her special frequency. And the label... "The Gathering."

The frequency in question combined the frequencies of every Titan MONARCH knew of, creating a chaotic cacophony of noise which Ghidorah absolutely couldn't stand. The idea was that this would be the ultimate deterrent for the Titans. But in the case of Ghidorah, who was not actually a Titan if he wasn't from Earth, it would likely not repel him so much as shake him up and aggravate him. And that seemed to be the case.

Ghidorah's heads all grit their teeth against the noise as he took flight and tracked down the source of the sound with lightning and thunder cracking and flashing around him as he entered the air. Emma watched him warily, and glanced down from Ghidorah as Godzilla's red light began to illuminate the slopes and upper lip of the crater. Emma smiled slightly as she looked up to see Ghidorah land a couple hundred meters away while looking directly at her.

She stood up from the Orca, leaving it on and running, as Ghidorah snarled down at her with eyes twitching and the spikes on his tails shaking and rattling similar to a rattle snake.

"I thought you were part of the natural order, but I was wrong."

Ghidorah's throats began flashing with golden light as they rose higher into the air.

"If you won't protect this world, then you can leave it. But before you do..."

The three mouths opened as smaller sparks of electricity filled the air around his heads.

"... Bow to the king." Emma stated firmly.

Ghidorah's three heads let fly, enveloping the world around Emma with golden light as she vanished from view along with the Orca and the sounds it was creating. On board the Argo, Maddie broke down in Mark's arms, knowing full well what had just happened. Mark couldn't help but well up as well as he struggled between comforting Maddie and accepting Emma's choices.

Even Jonah in his van knew what this meant, and as the light of Ghidorah's attack faded, he pulled out an old photo of his daughter's smiling face and stared quietly at it as the van officially left the city limits.

Ghidorah's heads shook off the shock and irritation of the frequencies produced by the now silenced Orca, and glanced at each other as they sniffed at the air.

"... What the hell?" Rick asked softly as an unimaginable image came up on the screens.

From behind Ghidorah, at the lip of the crater, a wall of steam was rising up through the rainy skies. Ghidorah sniffed the air again and hissed loudly as the tip of Godzilla's head slowly appeared over the lip of the crater. Swaying slowly from left to right with every step, Godzilla, body alight with a fiery crimson glow, marched up and out of the crater with a powerful roar that split the skies with a shock wave.

Ghidorah roared back at Godzilla and flared his wings, but the display had no effect on Godzilla whose left foot reached the lip and pulled him up and out of the crater and onto level ground. Ghidorah got his first full look at Godzilla in this new state. Everything from his eyes, spines, the gaps between his scales were glowing with red light emanating from within his body. And the sheer heat radiating from him was melting entirely buildings as he walked by them. He didn't even have to touch them.

Ghidorah charged his attack and let fly into Godzilla upper chest. But the blasts did nothing. Godzilla didn't so much as budge when he was struck, and he continued walking forward through the attack as Ghidorah continued pushing the attack.

Godzilla drew closer and closer, and Ghidorah ceased his attack long enough to charge forward and attempt to bite and suck his energy. However, Godzilla's reactions caught Ghidorah completely off guard. With speed Ghidorah didn't know he had, Godzilla grabbed the two outer heads, one in each hand. The heat from his body seared the flesh and scales clamped within their grasp, and he bit the central neck as it came to bite him. His teeth sunk into Ghidorah's flesh causing a brown-red blood spurt which evaporated almost instantly as soon as it was free of his body.

Holding Ghidorah still, Godzilla's body began pulsing with the same sound as his thermonuclear breath. Ghidorah struggled mightily to get free, but it was no use. Godzilla held firm and did not move until at last he released a mighty burst of super heated energy from his body almost like a solar flare from the sun. Within the burst could be seen the wings of Mothra, accompanied by her signature shriek. And as it struck Ghidorah's body Godzilla let go of him and he staggered back as the heat from the attack melted the flesh in his wings and knocked him onto his back.

Ghidorah rapidly struggled and kicked at the ground to back away from Godzilla as the heads launched another assault with their lightning blasts. Godzilla's body once again began pulsing, and another burst of power accompanied by the spirit of Mothra erupted to sear the flesh away from Ghidorah's body. The two outer heads took the brunt of the attack while shielding the center head, and their flesh melted away down to the bone and then to nothing as the central head continued desperately trying to kick away at the ground to get distance from the now fiery king of the monsters.

Godzilla would not allow an escape, however. He lifted one foot and stomped down onto Ghidorah's chest, and unleashed one final massive burst of power which overtook the world in crimson light and blinded the world to what had just happened within. The burst was so powerful it cleared the skies of all of Ghidorah's storm clouds for miles in every direction. On board the Argo, despite being outside minimum safe distance, they still all had to shut off the cameras and shield their eyes to avoid being blinded by the light.

And slowly, silence returned to the world as the light faded and the slowly fading sunlight on the horizon shone for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"What happened?" Rick asked.

"I don't know. But it looks like he finally exploded." Sam replied.

Serizawa tightened his lips, refusing to accept the idea that Godzilla had perished in that final assault.

And as they turned the cameras back on to observe the carnage, the entire city of Boston seemed to have become a massive, smoldering pile of ash after the attack. What few buildings were left partially standing were black and covered in burn marks. And everything within about a mile radius of Godzilla's position during the blast was practically glassed.

Then, the cameras detected a tiny hint of movement.

"What was that?" Barnes asked.

Serizawa observed the movement, and smiled.

"Gojira da." He stated firmly.

The ground shuddered and burst upwards as the blackened head of Ghidorah rose up from the rubble. And for a brief instant many assumed the worst. But as the spines of Godzilla broke through the rubble, a wave of relief fell over the spectators. He rose out of the ruins holding the severed head of Ghidorah in his mouth and slapping it around the environment like a crocodile tenderizing its prey before beginning a death roll. Godzilla's body began emitting that pulsing sound as blue light flashed along his back, and through his mouth, eyes, and even through the mouth and eyes of Ghidorah's still screeching head, that light shone brightly until Godzilla released his thermonuclear breath and vaporized what was left of his enemy.

Godzilla's breath shot up into the skies and vanished into the void as he shut his mouth and let out a huff accompanied by a tiny spark of electricity and a puff of blue smoke.

"... Jesus... Good thing he's on our side." Rick stated calmly.

"For now." Ilene added, sensing a change in Godzilla.

Maddie slowly looked up at Mark and buried her face in his chest. Mark responded by holding his daughter and stroking her hair. Ilene, noticing Mark's return, slowly walked over and stood beside him with a soft smile as he smiled back at her. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, and nodded slowly at her and looked back at the monitors.

"So what's next for you two?" Ilene asked softly.

Maddie turned her head and looked at Ilene, who gave her a smile. Maddie returned the smile a little bit, and then snuggled back against her father.

"We're going to have to find a new home, for starters." Mark replied.

"I think I can help with that." Ilene said cheerfully.

Mark chuckled, nodding subtly as he looked over at Serizawa who was smiling as well and giving him a nod.

"Doctor Serizawa?" Sam asked.

Serizawa glanced to him.

"Now that Ghidorah's gone, what do we do now?"

Serizawa took a deep breath as all eyes fell to him.

"Gojira has restored balance by killing the false king. Earth's Titans should resume their natural behavior now."

"What's their '_natural_' behavior, exactly?" Foster asked.

"They will search for territory to call their own. And it is likely they will enter human populated areas in their search. I doubt they will mean any harm in doing so, however-"

"You know the world leaders will want them destroyed, right?" Foster cut him off.

"Yes, I'm aware. But we can't resort to force. Doing so will only cause further conflict, as it always does. It's time for the world leaders to learn that coexistence is our path, not an attempt at dominance."

"Good luck with that, Doctor." She said as she sat in her chair.

"The Titans just want to find a place to call home, much like all of us. If we can help them do so, we may inspire them to stick to their own territory rather than wander into ours. But this is only a theory. We will have to wait and see what happens for now."

"Hey, check this out." Rick called, gathering everyone around his station.

"Looks like there were a bunch of Titans heading this way, but they're turning around and moving away now. What do you think happened?" He asked.

"Ghidorah must have been calling for backup. Now that he's dead, they no longer have reason to come here. They're going to return to their natural behavior now. This is a new world for them to explore now, after all."

"Huh... Interesting." Rick said.

"Hey, look at that." Sam said, pointing to the main monitor.

Rodan, still weak and wounded, was limping away slowly. Godzilla, however, stomped up beside him and stopped him with a loud growl. Rodan looked to the side towards the mighty Alpha and dipped his shoulders and head slightly, looking up and clicking at him. Godzilla stared at him for a moment before huffing and turning away. Rodan clicked a few more times, and then continued on his way.

"Looks like Rodan's had enough." Barnes said.

"Yeah. Godzilla too." Sam agreed.

"Gojira is going home." Serizawa stated.

Godzilla suddenly stopped walking.

"Hey, what's he doing?" Sam asked.

Serizawa shook his head.

Godzilla took in a deep breath and unleashed a powerful roar accompanied by a large shockwave. And on the monitors, all Titan movement came to a stop. On multiple monitors, live satellite feeds of the Titans around the world caught glimpses of them all stopping and looking up towards the skies.

"Is he... Calling them?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, man." Rick replied.

"I know what he's doing." Mark said at last, coming forward towards Serizawa.

"Now that he's killed Ghidorah, he's asserting his dominance to the other Titans." He concluded.

"So he's establishing that he's the new top dog, right?" Rick asked.

"Basically, yeah." Mark replied.

"I thought he was already the Alpha?" Sam asked.

"He was _an_ apex predator in the food chain. But he wasn't in a singular dominating presence to the other Titans. Some of those carvings and images from ancient times showed his kind had been in the past, but that's the past. _This _Godzilla had yet to establish himself in that position for more than Mothra and Rodan, as far as I can tell." Mark said.

"Oh." Sam whispered.

"Hey, look!" Rick cried.

On the monitors, the Titans all seemed to be dipping their heads and lowering themselves towards the ground in a submissive gesture.

"Oh, no doubt about it now! He's the top dog, baby! The King of the monsters! All right!" Rick cheered.

Ilene rolled her eyes and chuckled, while the rest of the Argo seemed to also chuckle at the statement. Mark hugged Maddie a little closer and gave her an assuring shake as Ilene came over and put a hand on her shoulder as well. Maddie and Ilene introduced themselves, and Ilene gave her a big hug while offering condolencese on the passing of her mother. Mark and Serizawa began a discussion about the future of the Titans. What they were likely to do and where they were likely to go. And the others all began celebrating in their own way.

Meanwhile, Godzilla had finished his call and began a proud, confident march towards the sea with the setting sun ahead illuminating his path as the skies slowly darkened overhead.

The Alpha Titan, after a long and hard-won fight for his throne, was going home to rest.

**The End**


End file.
